6th EliteTorrents Star-Wars Pre-Release Guilty Plea
Another uploader to the EliteTorrents BitTorrent tracker has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and criminal copyright infringement of a pre-commercial release work. Getting involved in the pre-release of Star-Wars Ep III could land him 5 years in jail and a $250,000 fine.
Defendant number six in the ongoing EliteTorrents prosecution drama has pleaded guilty according to an announcement made by Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Gregory A. White for the Northern District of Ohio.
Scott D. Harvanek, aged 22 of Tucson, Arizona, has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and actual criminal copyright infringement. The charges relate to the seeding or to the conspiracy to seed ‘a pre-commercial release work’, likely to be Star Wars: Episode III, in violation of the Family Entertainment Copyright Act.
Harvanek’s guilty plea is the 6th arising from Operation D-Elite, which shut down the EliteTorrents network in May 2005. Previous convictions including those of Scott McCausland, Grant Stanley and Sam Kuonen.
Harvanek, who faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, is due to be sentenced July 23rd 2007.
