LOS ANGELES – The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s largest and most effective anti-piracy coalition, today applauds U.S. law enforcement for efforts that culminated in the sentencing of two operators of Gears TV, a large-scale illegal streaming subscription service.
Gears TV is one of the largest piracy operations of its kind ever prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice, Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS), which worked in conjunction with the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to target and prosecute the operators.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania sentenced ringleader Bill Omar Carrasquillo, of Swedesboro, N.J., to 66 months in prison on Tuesday after he was indicted last September on 62 counts including fraud and tax evasion. On Monday, Jesse Gonzales, of Pico Rivera, Calif., was sentenced to 28 months in prison for crimes connected to the wide-ranging and lucrative copyright infringement scheme. Both pleaded guilty in 2022.
“ACE applauds the IRS, the FBI and the Department of Justice CCIPS for investigating, prosecuting, and convicting the piracy operators who ran the illegal streaming subscription service, Gears TV,” said Jan van Voorn, Executive Vice President and Chief of Global Content Protection for the Motion Picture Association and Head of ACE. “There is no justification for the illegal streaming of content, and the sentencing of these felons confirms yet again that violators will face serious consequences. ACE currently has similar cases in the pipeline, and we are committed to taking action against those involved in commercial-scale content piracy schemes as part of our global mission to protect the legal creative marketplace.”
Carrasquillo had a YouTube channel with a following of 800,000 on which he shared footage of his fleet of 57 luxury automobiles, lavish home and collections of high-end luxury items, which he claimed to have acquired with the profits of his illegal streaming business. Carrasquillo will be required to pay more than $15 million in restitution and surrender his vehicles and real estate holdings.
About The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) is the world’s leading coalition dedicated to protecting the dynamic legal market and reducing digital piracy. Driven by a comprehensive approach to addressing piracy through criminal referrals, civil litigation and cease-and-desist operations, ACE has achieved many successful global enforcement actions against illegal streaming services and sources of unauthorized content and their operators. Drawing upon the collective expertise and resources of more than 50 media and entertainment companies around the world and reinforced by the content protection operations of the Motion Picture Association, ACE protects the creativity and innovation that drive the global growth of core copyright and entertainment industries. The current governing board members for ACE are Amazon, Apple TV+, NBCUniversal, Netflix Studios LLC, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, and Warner Bros. Charles Rivkin is Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association and Chairman of ACE. For more information, please visit www.alliance4creativity.com.
Media Contact
Pamela Corante
pamela_corante@motionpictures.org
