Police acknowledge the sentencing of Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk for their involvement in the reproduction and distribution of millions of copyrighted works through MegaUpload.com.
The pair were sentenced in the High Court in Auckland today on charges of participating in an organised crime group, conspiring to cause loss by deception and conspiring to dishonestly obtain documents.
Both Ortmann and van der Kolk were sentenced to prison – two years seven months, and two years six months respectively.
MegaUpload.com, which operated from 2005 to 2012, was one of the largest and most sophisticated cyber locker platforms in the world.
The site, and several others associated with it, hosted and enabled the download of millions of copyrighted songs, movies, television shows, e-books, video games and computer programs.
At its peak, MegaUpload claimed to have 180 million registered users and an average of 50 million daily visits.
Detective Inspector Stuart Mills, Manager Intercept and Technology Operations for the National Criminal Investigation Group, says the scale of offending was enormous.
“MegaUpload was a global criminal enterprise estimated to have cost copyright holders more than half a billion dollars.
“As one of the largest copyright fraud schemes ever seen, MegaUpload operations involved the deliberate and systematic infringement of copyrighted material for financial gain.
“It exploited the work of artists, programmers, and entrepreneurs as well as the organisations and corporations that represented them.”
Detective Inspector Mills says today’s sentencing reflects years of work by New Zealand Police, in partnership with the United States Department of Justice – which initially sought extradition of Ortmann and van der Kolk – and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
One person continues to face an extradition request from the United States.
