14 DAY TRIAL // Natalia Lopukhovs and her husband Andrew face a trial in which media industry representatives claim they've lost $1.25 billion (875 million EUR) because of the Interfilm torrent tracker the pair administrated a few years ago.
After fueling the pirate underground with the latest movie releases, in April 2007 authorities began investigating the site and not much later they found the couple as the ones running the operation.
[ADMARk=1]According to TorrentFreak, the big breakthrough in the case came after someone provided the investigators with a complete copy of the torrent website.
“This was not just saved pages, but also the files that stored all the data administration, including the IP-addresses of everyone who ever came to the site,” revealed a source close to the Russian Anti-Piracy Organization. “With this information, investigators traced the Lopukhovs.”
Film companies from the US such as 20th Century Fox, Paramount and Universal accuse the couple of illegally providing copyrighted productions such as Resident Evil 3 and 28 Weeks Later.
By the middle of 2009, it all came down for the pair and Interfilm, which at the time was hosted by a Dutch ISP, was later taken down.
Curiously, even though the couple are considered to be the masterminds behind the operation, some believe that the torrent tracker is still running but under a different name and Puzkarapuz, another site that was allegedly run by the Russians, is now fully operational.
A trial date has not been set yet, but according to Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Grin, while they might receive a fine of only $16,000(11,000 EUR), the duo could face up to six years imprisonment.
The ones known in the pirate underground as Ripper, Shturman, Nadezhda or Piratka will no longer cause the movie industry any loses but unfortunately there are hundreds just like them in the world and it will be no easy task for authorities to put an end to their operations.