TorrentFreak

After being sent to prison early 2012 for running NinjaVideo, the first site to fall victim to the U.S. Government’s ‘Operation in Our Sites’, founder Hana ‘Phara’ Beshara is now back in society. Fresh from peeling potatoes for 12 cents an hour and learning how to knit, the self-styled ‘queen’ of Ninja is living at a halfway house and thinking about how she’s going to pay $210,000 damages to the MPAA. Maybe an MTV documentary and reality shows hold the key…

In 2010, individuals from the now-defunct NinjaVideo site stored copyright-infringing videos on the servers of Megaupload. These subsequently came to the attention of the FBI who were conducting an investigation into NinjaVideo and its operators. As a result Megaupload was served with a criminal search warrant requiring it to hand over information to the authorities, but in a cruel twist Megaupload’s cooperation and a desire not to destroy evidence is now being used as evidence against it.

The former head of security at the now-defunct movie streaming site NinjaVideo has been sentenced by a federal court in Virginia for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. The Government demanded a prison term for 33-year-old Jeremy Andrew, but the court decided that three years probation is sufficient as he was not motivated by monetary rewards.

A second administrator of NinjaVideo, one of the first targets of the US government’s Operation in Our Sites, has been sentenced. Matthew Smith, known online as Dead1ne, received 14 months in prison, two years supervised release, and was ordered to pay back just over $172,000 he allegedly earned from the site.

Last week Hana Beshara, one of the founders of the popular NinjaVideo movie and TV show streaming site, was sentenced to 22 months in prison for conspiracy and criminal copyright infringement. Beshara was released until a bed opened up at a detention center, but after she posted critical notes on Facebook the authorities asked to reconsider this decision. As a result, the NinjaVideo founder was rushed to local prison today.

An outspoken founder of NinjaVideo, one of the first domains to be targeted in the ongoing Operation in Our Sites, was sentenced today for conspiracy and criminal copyright infringement. Hana Beshara, known online as Phara, will now spend 22 months in prison followed by 2 years of probation and 500 hours of community service. A source close to NinjaVideo told TorrentFreak that Hana’s lawyer “was happy” with the sentence.

Hana Beshara, one of the founders of the popular NinjaVideo movie and TV show streaming site, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and criminal copyright infringement last week. In the video below she talks about her plea and the future of the Ninja community, which she and the others intend to keep alive. “This is serious, folks, [...]