Computer programmer convicted for role in illegal streaming service

A computer programmer who helped operate one of the largest illegal television streaming services in the United States was convicted by a Nevada jury, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Yoany Vaillant, 43, a permanent U.S. resident, worked as a computer programmer for Jetflicks, an online, subscription-based service in Las Vegas that allowed users to stream and download copyrighted television episodes without the permission of its owners, the Justice Department said.

He was convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and is the eighth and final defendant to be convicted in the case.

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Someone watching a live television broadcast program. Streaming services have become popular in households amid a changing entertainment landscape. (iStock)

At one point, Jetflicks, based in Las Vegas, claimed to have 183,285 different television episodes, far more than Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, or any other licensed streaming service, authorities said. The service often provided episodes to subscribers, sometimes a day after they originally aired on television, prosecutors said.

The vast scale of the piracy impacted “every significant copyright owner of a television program in the U.S. and resulted in millions of dollars in losses to U.S. television and streaming industries,” a DOJ news release said.

Vaillant was one of eight defendants indicted in 2019 in Virginia for running Jetflicks. His co-defendant, Darryl Polo, also a computer programmer, pleaded guilty to four criminal copyright counts and one money laundering count and was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.

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Luis Villarino pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and was sentenced to one year in prison.

In February 2022, the case was transferred to the District of Nevada for trial before Vaillant’s case was severed from the other remaining five defendants — Dallmann, Jaurequi, Douglas Courson, Felipe Garcia, and Peter Huber — who were all tried in Las Vegas.

The five were found guilty of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, and Dallmann was also found guilty of three additional counts of criminal copyright infringement and two counts of money laundering by concealment.