A seller of illegal IPTV boxes would have collected more than a million euros illegally. Despite the scale of his trafficking, he ultimately received a much lighter sentence than expected.
Jordan Longbottom, now 42 years old, launched a career in August 2015. illegal activity which he thinks is lucrative. From his caravan in Wales, he began to sell IPTV box giving access to pay TV channel packages. Priced between £100 and £175 (approximately 115 and 200 €), it’s more affordable than paying the price of subscriptions. To make himself known, Longbottom goes through Facebook. A group he creates reaches the 37,000 subscribers at the height of its activity.
The pirate even has the luxury of hiring two people to help him manage his business. The authorities finally got wind of the affair and in January 2017, John Longbottom’s home was raided by the police. Except the suspect isn’t there. He is on vacation in the United States and only returns 3 months later, which earned him an arrest as soon as he got off the plane at Manchester airport. Pursued by FACT, the Federation Against Copyright Theftthe pirate is not at all worried since the sale of its IPTV boxes continues until May 2017either 2 months after Longbottom’s indictment.
Arrested in 2017, this pirate appears in court years later and receives a minimal sentence
Despite all the evidence against him, John Longbottom left alone for 5 years. He was only summoned before the British courts in 2022, the fault of congested courts and a reduced team at the plaintiff, FACT. According to the prosecution, the sale of the boxes would have brought in around 1.16 million euros for Longbottom. The latter claims that the figure is largely overestimated and that it is rather around the 350,000 euros. The accused, however, pleads guilty to the facts with which he is accused.
Also in focus – This pirate escapes a new prison sentence because of an oversight by the prosecution
The judge delivers his verdict and explains that if John Longbottom had been summoned to court sooner, he would certainly have ended up behind bars, but as it stands, this would not be the case. Especially since prisons are overcrowded. The man receives a prison sentence of 22 months suspended for 24 months. This is the equivalent of suspended sentence in France. In short: if Longbottom does not break the law for 2 years, he will not go to prison for 22 months. However, he will have to complete 15 days of rehabilitation activities and 150 hours of unpaid work. The creators of the Flawless IPTV service would surely have appreciated such a magnanimous judgment.
Source: Manchester Evening News