Dresden Indictment Against Another Suspected Movie2K Operator

Criminal proceedings are now underway in Leipzig against another suspected primary operator and an employee of the illegal streaming portal movie2K, which was available online until the end of May 2013. A special investigation unit of the Dresden public prosecutor's office, focused on combating serious corruption and organized crime, has submitted the indictment to the Economic Criminal Chamber of the Leipzig Regional Court. Prosecutors accuse the 40-year-old alleged mastermind of illegally exploiting copyrighted works via the platform in 219,928 cases. He will also have to defend himself against charges of commercial money laundering in 146 cases and incitement to false accusation. He is alleged to have acquired bitcoins with millions in revenue from advertising contracts.

The accused initially went into hiding. He was arrested abroad in May 2023. Following his extradition, he was held in custody in Saxony until mid-January, according to the public prosecutor's office. The second accused is charged with 46 counts of commercial money laundering and particularly serious tax evasion. The 37-year-old Polish national is said to have received Bitcoin from his friend, the main operator, for his work at movie2k.

Investigators were able to seize around 2,700 Bitcoins and Bitcoin Cash and made an "emergency sale" of them. The Leipzig District Court has separated the question of realization from the criminal proceedings. It is therefore still unclear what will happen to the proceeds, which amounted to around 38.6 million euros. In addition, the investigators were able to provisionally secure almost 50,000 Bitcoins in mid-January in the current movie2k proceedings as a result of a voluntary handover. It has not yet been decided what will happen to these billions.

Suspended sentence for two people

Another charge, against a real estate agent from Berlin, has not yet been admitted for trial by the Leipzig District Court. This man is accused of money laundering together with the second main operator. In March 2023, the Leipzig judges sentenced the second main operator, who worked as a programmer, to a total prison sentence of one year and eight months for commercial unauthorized exploitation of copyrighted works, money laundering, fraud and tax evasion in criminal proceedings that had already been concluded with final effect. In addition, movie2k's main financial agent responsible for handling payment transactions was sentenced to a total of ten months' imprisonment for copyright infringement and false accusation. Both got off with probation.

Almost 900,000 films and series were available via the video streaming portal, which was launched in 2008 and was popular in Germany and elsewhere. Those responsible generated millions of euros in revenue through advertising and subscription traps. They invested the money in cryptocurrencies and real estate. Back in 2020, one of the main suspects handed over Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash worth a total of 25 million euros to the authorities.

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