The world’s largest sports pirate site, StreamEast, is no more.
The illegal streaming giant was shut down in Egypt after a sting operation, according to the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, one of the country’s largest anti-piracy coalitions. Egyptian law enforcement and Ace shut down the service on August 24 after a year-long investigation.
StreamEast had 80 affiliated domains and accumulated over 1.6 billion visits last year. It offered access to major sporting events including European football championships, NFL, NBA, MLB, pay-per-view boxing and F1 races. It averaged 136 million monthly visitors, mostly located in the US, Canada, UK, Philippines and Germany.
“With this significant action, we have put more pressure on sports leagues, entertainment companies and fans around the world – and our global alliance will remain on the field as long as necessary to identify and target the largest piracy rings around the world,” said Charles Rivkin, ACE Chairman and Head of Motion Picture Assistance, in a press release.
Two men were arrested about 20 miles outside Cairo on suspicion of copyright infringement. Authorities seized devices, including laptops and smartphones, believed to be used to operate the website, cash and several credit cards. Investigators also identified a shell company that was allegedly used to launder advertising revenue totaling about $6.2 million and an investment of $200,000 in cryptocurrency. Several properties in Egypt may also have been purchased with the funds.
In addition to working with local Egyptian authorities, ACE’s investigation was assisted by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, according to a report by Sports Illustrated.
All sites previously linked to StreamEast will be redirected to Ace’s “Watch Legally” page, which provides links to authorized streaming video providers. The announcement comes a day before the NFL regular season begins.
