A computer hacker who was jailed for stealing unreleased songs from stars including Ed Sheeran has been ordered to pay back more than £100,000.
Adrian Kwiatkowski, 23, stole 14 songs - two from Sheeran and 12 from Lil Uzi Vert - from their digital accounts, before selling them on the dark web.
He had been jailed for 18 months at Ipswich Crown Court in October 2022 after pleading guilty to offering songs in exchange for cryptocurrency on the dark web.
City of London police fraud specialists searched his computer finding 565 audio files.
Kwiatkowski, from Ipswich, pleaded guilty to three charges of unauthorised access to computer material, 14 charges of making for sale an article infringing copyright, one charge of converting criminal property and two charges of possession of criminal property.
In his latest appearance at Ipswich Crown Court a confiscation order was made against the fraudster giving him three months to pay £101,053.
The amount is made up of £51,975 held in a bank account owned by Kwiatkowski and 2.64 BTC (Bitcoin), worth £49,528, which makes it the first confiscation order of cryptocurrency secured by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU).
If he fails to pay within three months, he will face a further 18 months in jail.
Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt, from the City of London , Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) said: “Kwiatkowski executed a complex scheme to sell creative content that he did not own.
“Not only did he cause several musicians and their production companies significant financial harm, he deprived them of the ability to release their own work.
“Our work doesn’t just stop at conviction, and this result means that Kwiatkowski will not be able to benefit any further from the money he earned through criminal activity.”
Melissa Morgia, Director of Global Content Protection and Enforcement at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), said:
“We welcome the recent developments in this case. This type of criminal activity jeopardises the work of artists and the efforts of the teams of people supporting with the creation and release of their music.”
“This is an excellent example of international cooperation and we would like to thank the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the City of London Police for their support in this matter.”
