A married couple who illegally made £750,000 ($991,000) by selling over 8,000 illicit streaming devices and setting up a streaming service have been dealt with in court.
People have been using these services, such as Kodi, as a means of cutting out high bills to watch football. But using Kodi could land you with a ten year prison sentence.
That's something John Haggerty knows about all too well. He's the owner of Evolution Trading, a major pirate streaming service and mass supplier of illicit streaming devices that provided illegal access to Premier League football.
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He's now been jailed for five years and three months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud and dishonestly obtaining services for another at Newcastle Crown Court.
Haggerty's conviction is serving as an example to others supplying these devices.
The case is also the first example of the Courts confirming what the UK Government has already made clear - that using the devices themselves is illegal, with the Judge warning that Haggerty put thousands of customers at risk of prosecution.
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The Evolution Trading boss and his wife, Mary Gilfillan, sold more than 8,000 illegal devices that were loaded with add-ons to enable publicans and consumers to view illegal streams of Premier League football.
Gilfillan was given a two year suspended sentence for offences of fraud.
The company also created and sold access to its own illegal streaming service, infusum.tv,to thousands of customers.
Between March 2013 and July 2015, the operators of Evolution generated more than £750,000 through their illegal activity.
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During the investigation it transpired that Haggerty had previously spent time in prison in the US between 2009 to 2012 following a serious fraud conviction.Kevin Plumb, Premier League Director, said: "This case demonstrates how seriously the courts are dealing with criminals involved in the supply of illicit streaming devices and services that provide illegal access to Premier League football and other popular content.
"It also serves as a reminder to people that they take huge risks by handing over bank details and personal data to rogue operators like Evolution and infusum.tv.
"The ability that Premier League clubs have to develop and acquire talented players, to build and improve stadiums and to support communities and schools, is predicated on being able to market, sell and protect commercial rights.
"This makes the protection of our copyright hugely important to the future health of English football and beyond, something we are pleased the courts continue to recognise with judgments like this one."
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