The YouTuber Omi In A Hellcat has been charged with selling copyrighted TV shows and movies in a “wide-ranging and lucrative copyright infringement scheme” that netted him $30 million, according to authorities.
Omi, whose real name is Bill Omar Carrasquillo, denies the charges, reports The New York Times.
Carrasquillo, whose channel is still active and counts 792,000 subscribers, showcases his luxury cars and lifestyle. In other recent videos (below), he has chronicled being the subject of an FBI indictment.
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Federal prosecutors say Carrasquillo and two associates “fraudulently obtained cable television accounts and then resold copyrighted content to thousands of their own subscribers.” The scheme ran from March 2016 to Nov. 2019, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Carrasquillo has been charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, one count of reproduction of a protected work, 19 counts of public performance of a protected work, four counts of access device fraud, six counts of wire fraud, three counts of making false statements to a bank nineteen counts of money laundering, two counts of making false statements to law enforcement officers, two counts of removal of property to prevent seizure, and four counts of tax evasion.
If convicted, he faces 514 years in prison.
“Mr. Carrasquillo tapped into a brand-new, unregulated industry and was very successful,” his lawyer, Donte Mills, told the Times. “Most people are called pioneers when they do that; Omar is called a criminal. The government assumes my client was not smart enough to do this legally because of his background. He is and we will prove that.”
