Lawyers finally plead guilty to their 3 million dollar pornography scheme
August 22, 2018PNT commentary: Word on the street is that before the end of this year 4 well known “porn industry attorneys” will likely be pleading guilty to various crimes as well.
Prosecutors alleged Paul Hansmeier, colleague made porn in order to snare downloaders.
It apparently started out above-board, at least according to court documents. Paul Hansmeier and John Steele of what Ars Technica calls “legitimate if aggressive copyright law firm” Prenda Law found their niche around 2010: The men repped clients who held the copyrights to porn flicks and went after internet users who downloaded those films or attempted to do so. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports the lawyers would file copyright infringement suits and push the downloaders to settle for $3,000 or face embarrassing and expensive litigation. But Ars Technica reports rumors of nefarious doings bubbled up in June 2013, when the legal team of a man being sued by Prenda suggested the “sharkmp4” user who uploaded a film in question to the Pirate Bay might be Steele. The truth ended up being something much more extreme.
Hansmeier and Steele had become porn producers themselves in order to get their hands on more source material, with Steele’s March 2017 plea deal stating the men produced at least 9 films in Chicago, Miami, and Las Vegas (including Great Teen Sex, Worst Plot Ever) to facilitate the scheme, which is said to have brought in $3 million.
