A U.S. grand jury in the Eastern District of New York has returned an indictment charging Noor Nabi Chowdhury, 56, of Cheektowaga, New York, and his brother, Mohammad Rahman, 36, of Dhaka, Bangladesh, with conspiracy to provide to the public an illicit digital transmission service; providing an illicit digital transmission service; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; and aggravated identity theft.
The charges stem from their operation of 247TVStream, an online subscription-based service that permitted users to stream copyrighted content, such as live sports programming and television shows, without the permission of the relevant copyright owners.
According to court documents, Chowdhury and Rahman allegedly ran the illegal scheme for years and collected more than $7 million in subscriber fees from 247TVStream subscribers.
The estimated harm to legitimate copyright owners caused by 247TVStream is more than $100 million. Chowdhury and Rahman also allegedly used a victim’s identification to facilitate the infrastructure for the scheme.
The indictment was unsealed Wednesday, following Chowdhury’s arrest, and he appeared for his arraignment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York this afternoon. An arrest warrant was issued for Rahman, who remains at large.
“According to the indictment, Chowdhury and Rahman ran an illicit digital streaming site that infringed upon more than a hundred million dollars of intellectual property owned by legitimate copyright owners,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
As alleged, the defendants operated a bootleg online streaming service that distributed copyrighted television programs that they stole for their personal enrichment, said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York.
Noor Nabi Chowdhury and Mohammad Rahman are accused of committing copyright infringement to the tune of over $100 million,” according to Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York Field Office.
Also, HSI executed a seizure order from the Eastern District of New York against website domain names used by Chowdhury and Rahman to operate 247TVStream.
The seizure of these domains by the government will prevent the owners and third parties from using the sites to operate 247TVStream. Individuals, including subscribers, visiting those sites now will see a message indicating that the site has been seized by the federal government.
In addition, in coordination with international law enforcement partners to enforce criminal copyright laws, Dutch and United Kingdom authorities have seized the servers hosting a portion of the 247TVStream infrastructure.
If convicted, Chowdhury and Rahman each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the conspiracy to provide the illicit digital transmission service charge; three years in prison on the providing the illicit digital transmission service charge; 20 years in prison for the conspiracy to commit wire fraud charge; and a mandatory penalty of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft, to run consecutive to the other sentences.
