Earlier this year, all the members of the once popular IMAGiNE piracy release group plead guilty to copyright infringement.
In 2011, the P2P top group stopped distributing new CAM and TS releases, and the P2P world began speculating that maybe they had been caught. This proved true as rumor has it a rival P2P group sold them out to the MPAA which then turned to the authorities. The group had released hundreds of films, many of which were recorded in movie theaters by members of the group.
This week, the group's "Sysop" has been sentenced to 40 months in prison, far and away the largest punishment for illegal file sharing in the history of the U.S.
Two of the other members had already been sentenced, to 23 and 30 months in prison.
Gregory Cherwonik, 53, of New York, will serve the jail time and then be placed on probation for three years where he will not be given access to any electronic device that can reproduce copyrighted material. Many have taken that to mean he will not be able to own a computer for three years.
The harsh penalty was passed down mainly because the group continued to operate for up to you a year after an initial raid on their residences: "Rather than use the search of his residence as a reason to reconsider his participation in the IMAGiNE Group and to end his role in the conspiracy to commit copyright crime, Defendant Cherwonik and his co-conspirators continued and accelerated their illegal conduct in defiance of the law," added United States Attorney Neil MacBride.
This week, the group's "Sysop" has been sentenced to 40 months in prison, far and away the largest punishment for illegal file sharing in the history of the U.S.
Two of the other members had already been sentenced, to 23 and 30 months in prison.
Gregory Cherwonik, 53, of New York, will serve the jail time and then be placed on probation for three years where he will not be given access to any electronic device that can reproduce copyrighted material. Many have taken that to mean he will not be able to own a computer for three years.
The harsh penalty was passed down mainly because the group continued to operate for up to you a year after an initial raid on their residences: "Rather than use the search of his residence as a reason to reconsider his participation in the IMAGiNE Group and to end his role in the conspiracy to commit copyright crime, Defendant Cherwonik and his co-conspirators continued and accelerated their illegal conduct in defiance of the law," added United States Attorney Neil MacBride.
