Mark Gould, the mastermind behind the fallen Flawless TV service, failed in his appeal against an 11-year sentence. He and his co-conspirators had received a combined 30-year jail time for conspiracy to defraud, among other charges. While the rest of the team received sentences not exceeding five years, Gould got 11 years behind bars, which seemed harsh. He challenged this judgment in the Appeal Court but failed.
Article Source: TorrentFreak
In May 2023, five men behind Flawless TV, an unverified IPTV service, were jailed for 30 years in combined sentences after a private prosecution by the Premier League. Four of the conspirators received around 5-year sentences each, but the Mastermind, Mark Gould, got a whopping 11 years behind bars.
Although the sophisticated operation lasted barely two years, it had amassed approximately £4.6 million in revenue. The income was received at the expense of rightsholders who lost millions as fans opted for the cheap, Flawless IPTV packages.
After a lengthy investigation that involved the Premier League, the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), and territorial police forces, Chesterfield Crown Court handed the men jail terms for conspiracy to defraud.
It was one of the biggest piracy lawsuits in the UK at a time when Flawless TV had won the hearts and pockets of football fans. Rightsholders like the Premier League, Sky, and Virgin Media hailed the court’s decision for sending a clear message to piracy sites like Flawless.
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The Rise and Fall Of Flawless TV
Sports streaming has become expensive over the years as rightsholders and content distributors try to make profits. When a company like the Premier League sells broadcast rights to media outlets like Sky Sports and TNT Sports, they pass the monetary burden to viewers. Fans need to pay significant subscription fees to cover the broadcasting costs.
While most fans accept this viewing model, some believe the subscription costs are too high. This is true, especially when they have to buy multiple subscriptions to view various matches.
What to do when a fan can’t afford or is unwilling to pay multiple or pricey subscriptions to watch sports? Unverified IPTV services like Flawless TV offered it cheap. Flawless TV became popular because it provided a more affordable alternative to watch Premier League matches, especially the “3 PM Blackout” events.
In addition to live sports, Flawless TV offered other packages, including VOD content, PPV, and live TV channels from the UK and beyond.
The service became popular, and in no time, rightsholders lost subscribers to Flawless. This was a headache because they couldn’t compete with a service offering exclusive content at a fraction of their standard rate. Flawless TV sold packages at £10 per month, while rightsholders charged between £60 and £80 monthly.
In just 22 months of operation, Flawless TV had made £ 4.6 million, with £3.7 million as profit. Being the kingpin, Mark Gould pocketed £1.7 million, a reasonably large share compared to the rest of the gang.
Investigation and Prosecution
The Premier League was unhappy with Flawless TV and called it a fraudulent, criminal enterprise that stole revenue from football clubs. Moreover, the piracy service affected the price broadcasters paid to obtain exclusive broadcasting licenses.
A Premier League private investigation started in 2018. The mastermind was arrested in May 2018. A restraint order was imposed, stopping him from offering the service. Continued investigations led to the arrest of the rest of the team in the same year.
Five years after the initial arrest, a court in Chesterfield found them guilty of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering, among other counts. They were handed a combined sentence of 30 years.
The Failed Appeal
Gould felt the 11-year jail term was too harsh and filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal. Through his lawyers, he argued that the lower court made a mistake in the calculation of financial losses the rightsholders incurred.
Instead of factoring in Gould’s profits and the potential value of legitimate subscriptions, the court should have only considered the risk of loss of proprietary rights. His lawyers further said that the judges could not correctly asses the losses because the contractual agreements between content producers, owners, and broadcasters were not presented as evidence.
Gould and his legal team argued that the two counts of conspiracy to defraud represented a single criminal enterprise. He should have been judged for a single count of conspiracy to defraud like the others.
The appellate judges ruled that the sentence was not excessive or disproportionate. To assess the losses, the Court of Appeal asked what Flawless TV would have paid the broadcasters to lawfully distribute the content.
“The answer would be something close to what the broadcasters charged their other customers…the business model of Flawless and their successors involved breaching the copyright of the legitimate broadcasters. In practical terms, they stole the product of those broadcasters. No further technical analysis is required,” read the judgment.
The court ruled that the conspiracy to defraud is a single offense. As for the argument that the conspiracy to defraud is a single offense, the court ruled that it was two distinct illegal operations. After his initial arrest in 2023 and consequent restraint order, Gould carried on the illegal business. He only changed the business approach from direct sales to a reseller model. He also employed different service names and changed the mode of payment to Bitcoin.
Furthermore, Gould made an additional £2.6 million in the second run of his illegitimate IPTV business. After Flawless went down, he and another member of the gang created Flawless 2 (Shared VPS), an alternative IPTV service.
Considering all these aspects, the Court of Appeal rejected Gould’s leave to appeal. The judges concluded that the 11-year sentence was not manifestly excessive or disproportionate to the severity of his crimes. Read more of this story on TorrentFreak.
Final Thoughts
The Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold the judgment made by lower courts shows that the UK’s legal system is hell-bent on curbing illegal IPTV services and other online piracy businesses. It is also a message to content producers, rightsholders, and broadcasters that the government is here to provide a conducive business environment where intellectual property is protected.
It is also a stern warning to illegal IPTV services and those interested in such criminal enterprises. Was the Court of Appeal fair in upholding Flawless TV’s mastermind’s 11-year prison sentence? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
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