YouTube Celeb Indicted In TV Piracy Scam
Read one book a day. Invest in Bitcoin. Wear a three-piece suit. Change your millionaire grindset. Commit a federal offense by illegally streaming pay-per-view events and copyrighted content.
These are some of the finest pillars of 'get rich quick' schemes offered by YouTube personalities — most of them without a day job.
For content creator Omi In A Hellcat — a New Jersey devotee of fast cars, gold chains and clickbait thumbnails — illegally running a network of streamed copyrighted materials landed him in hot water with the Feds, and he may soon be posting videos from inside the pen.
The man behind the pseudonym, Bill Omar Carrasquillo, was arrested outside of his home Tuesday morning. Carrasquillo appeared ready for the storming by the Feds, broadcasting the event live to this 80,000 YouTube subscribers.
“I found a loophole, I ran through it and I did great," shared Carrasquillo, arrested alongside two colleagues that aided in running the service. "There are other colleagues in the same business I was in, and they never got in trouble with the FBI."
According to the Fox News report, Omi's underground streaming service, Protocol Television (IPTV) Gears Reloaded, generated over $30 million in profit for the YouTuber, based on a $15 per month plan. His service granted access to primetime network channels and other marquee televised programs protected by a paywall.
Details from the scene reported that the FBI seized over $6 million of assets, with over $34 million worth of possessions still owed by Carrasquillo.
The YouTuber cited ignorance at the helm of his wrongdoing, while also sounding at peace with getting caught following two years of indictment threats from the feds. Carrasquillo had previously posted video logs claiming that the FBI was wrongly on his trail over the piracy charges.
"I don’t think I ever did anything wrong," said Carrasquillo. "Obviously, I was running businesses wide open in the public. Now, we are going to have our day in court.
“I’m gonna do a couple of years off of this. I’m going to go to jail for a couple of years.”
Follow along on Twitter: @AlejandroAveela