Local reports today revealed that the German law enforcement agency in collaboration with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has confiscated cryptocurrencies worth millions of dollars from the operators of the defunct illegal streaming platform Movie2k.to.
Movie2k was a top-rated film pirate streaming website that attracted massive traffic than other popular websites in Germany, ranking among the 20 most visited sites back in 2012.
In 2013, the company decided to shut down of its own accord. However, in November 2019, German authorities, with help from the FBI, arrested the operators for suspected illegal internet activities associated with Movie2k and took legal steps to investigate the criminal actions surrounding the company’s internet operation.
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During the investigation, the authorities recovered $29.7 million worth of Bitcoin generated from advertisement and subscription fees for dispersing more than 880.000 pirated movies. But reports noted that Movie2k’s programmer made about 22,000 Bitcoin while working on the platform.
The programmer allegedly invested the acquired Bitcoin real estate through the help of a real estate entrepreneur from Berlin who was also a partner in the piracy operation.
According to the report, the services of Forensic Experts yielded good outcome when the perpetrators voluntarily let go of the crypto assets in their possession as payment for what was tagged “damage reparation,” which seem to be only remnants of the total Bitcoin they had acquired.
