A man who made over £2 million selling preloaded set-top boxes has been jailed.
Halton Mark Anthony Powell, 44, of Maybank Avenue, Hornchurch, London, began his investiture with a company called Droidsticks Ltd in 2013. It was through his company that Powell sold the set-top boxes both in the shop and online.
An investigation by City of London Police's Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) discovered that Powell had earned £2,344,949 via sales from the online marketplace. In August of this year, Powell pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to supplying articles for use in fraud.
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He received a two-year and six-month sentence at the same court on November 11. Detective Sergeant Peter Gartland from PIPCU said: "Powell attempted to hide the illegitimate nature of his business by concealing evidence that he was selling products pre-configured to stream Sky Sports and Sky Cinema.
"However, PIPCU officers were able to prove he was aware the set-top boxes were being used for this purpose by thousands of customers. It is vital to remember that watching premium content without a subscription is illegal – and enabling access to it can land you with a criminal record, as this case shows.”
An investigation was launched in March 2015 after an online marketplace reported that set-top boxes were being sold by Droidsticks' online account. The company was discovered to be selling the boxes that came pre-loaded with a piece of software referred to as the 'Droidsticks Wizard', allowing users to install add-ons to access Sky's sports and movie channels as well os other premium TV content.
Powell was arrested by PIPCU officers who seized 1,300 set-top boxes from a storage unit and another 121 boxes from Powell's shop. Matt Hibert, Sky's director of Anti-Piracy in the UK and Ireland said: "We’d like to thank PIPCU for their support in bringing this case to a successful conclusion.
"The financial sums involved and the length of the sentence handed down today underline the seriousness of this type of criminality. We’ll continue to work with law enforcement and our industry partners to protect consumers and take action against those organisations intent on stealing our content.”
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