Hamilton man forfeits $21M crypto for selling pirated movies

TL:DR Breakdown:

• Police in NZ seized over $21 million in cryptocurrency from Hamilton men for selling copyright-protected movies.
• Some portion of the proceeds kept in his brother’s account (about $2 million) was also seized by the authorities.

Law enforcement officers are still actively cracking down on copyright violators. Today, a man from Hamilton, New Zealand was ordered by the local authorities to forfeit more than $21 million in cryptocurrencies gained by downloading and selling movies protected by copyright. Previously, the police had seized more than $6 million in cryptocurrency from him, including thousands of dollars he stored in the bank then.

Hamilton police seize millions amid piracy 

The Hamilton man, Jaron McIvor, was accused by the law enforcement officers of selling copyrighted movies. After admitting to making profits from the crime, the police seized more than $21 million in cryptocurrency from him, as per the recent High Court judgment. The Commission of Police also ordered the seizure of $818,000 in his bank accounts and over $2 million in crypto and fiat currency from Mclvor’s brother. 

Per the ruling, the brother received some for the ill-gotten profits from Mclvor. The Hamilton men agreed to forfeit all the restrained funds, except $400,000. Justice Mathew Downs conceded with their agreement saying: “I reached this conclusion because the overwhelming majority of restrained funds were forfeited, and litigation over the balance (of $400,000) would be disproportionately expensive and time-consuming.”

Over $6 million already seized

Last year, Cryptopolitan reported that the New Zealand police seized over $6 million in cryptocurrency from Mclvor, for the same reason. The seizure was aided by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which learned that Mclvor made several suspicious transactions on PayPal. On that note, the US tax agency tracked him to New Zealand and informed the authorities.