HeHeStreams IPTV Operator Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison

By iptv.legal , in News , at March 17, 2023

The former operator of HeHeStreams IPTV service has been sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $3 million in damages.

HeHeStreams was a popular IPTV service that provided thousands of live streams, PPV, and other sports content.

HeHeStreams IPTV Operator Sentenced to Prison

The defendant, who went by the online name “Josh Brody,” was accused of facilitating copyright infringement by operating the HeheStreams platform, which allowed users to stream live sports events without authorization.

The real name of “Josh Brody” is Joshua Streit who has now had to deal with anti-piracy authorities in multiple instances.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), HeheStreams offered access to streams of live sporting events, including basketball, football, soccer, and baseball games.

The service operated between 2015 and 2020, with Streit allegedly serving as the primary administrator.

In February 2021, Streit pleaded guilty to one count of criminal copyright infringement, admitting that he had knowingly and intentionally operated HeheStreams with the purpose of enabling users to infringe copyrighted content.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) also seized the domains of HeHeStreams in 2021.

And in 2022 Streit settled with the US government for $500K in copyright damages.

As part of this new plea deal, Streit agreed to pay restitution of $3 million to the victims of his crimes, which included major sports leagues such as the NBA, NFL, and MLB.

The defendant also agreed to forfeit all assets and equipment related to HeheStreams, including servers, domain names, and social media accounts.

In addition to the restitution and asset forfeiture, Streit was sentenced to three years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

During his supervised release, he will be prohibited from engaging in any business related to the sale or distribution of copyrighted material.

The case against Streit was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, with assistance from the DOJ’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen notable IPTV services get shut down whether by anti-piracy authorities.

For more information on this story, you can view the original report on TorrentFreak.

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