Külföldi torrent oldalak Feds Charge Kansas City Man In $90m Software Piracy Ring

One of the largest software piracy schemes ever prosecuted.

Charges were brought against: Casey Lee Ross, 28, of Kansas City; Reza Davachi, 41, of Damascus, Md.; and Matthew Lockwood, 37, of Denver. Ross and Lockwood entered guilty pleas.

Federal authorities learned in 2013 that Ross purchased and redistributed about 30,159 product key codes and counterfeit product key cards for products owned by Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Systems Inc. Product key codes enable software to be registered and used as if it was a legitimately purchased product.

Under a business called "Software Slashers," the U.S. Justice Department accused Ross of distributing the product key codes to Davachi and other co-conspirators who sold them on various websites, including e-commerce sites such as eBay and Amazon. Davachi is accused of selling millions of dollars of unauthorized and counterfeit software and product key codes through a 501(c)(3) charity store called Project Contact Africa, which then sold the software at prices ranging from one-third to half of the manufacturer's retail price, telling buyers that 100 percent of the profits went to charity.

Davachi is also accused of selling $1.24 million worth of key codes to Lockwood, who did business as Discount Mountain Inc. Lockwood also admitted to purchasing $1.13 million worth of key codes from Ross, and another $1.57 million worth from unidentified people in the state of Washington.

Overall, the Justice Department said the alleged fraud reaped $30 million in profits on $90 million in sales of pirated software.

The Justice Department said federal agents searched Davachi's residence and business, seizing $73,391 in cash, 2,716 mint coins, 665 Canadian mint coins, 164 silver pieces and a 2013 Tesla Model S worth $71,640. They also found 5,000 certificates of authenticity that were not accompanying the associated copyrighted computer programs owned by Microsoft.

Overall, federal agents seized more than $18 million in assets believed to be part of the alleged scheme.

Davachi was arrested at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport trying to board a plane to London. The Justice Department said Davachi bought the ticket an hour after his attorney was informed Ross and Lockwood entered guilty pleas.