SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the fpmita-prison-on-the-horizon dept.
The surviving Prenda Law copyright trolls, Paul Hansmeier and John Steele, are finally in line to receive their just due. They have been arrested for running a multi-million dollar extortion scheme.
Ars reports:
The two lawyers were charged Wednesday with an 18-count indictment (PDF), describing allegations of fraud, perjury, and money laundering perpetrated between 2011 and 2014. The charges were unsealed and announced today and first reported by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Both Hansmeier, 35, and Steele, 45, were arrested earlier today before the indictment was made public.
"The defendants in this case are charged with devising a scheme that casts doubt on the integrity of our profession," said US Attorney Andrew Luger in a statement. "The conduct of these defendants was outrageous—they used deceptive lawsuits and unsuspecting judges to extort millions from vulnerable defendants. Our courts are halls of justice where fairness and the rule of law triumph, and my office will use every available resource to stop corrupt lawyers from abusing our system of justice."
The indictment explains how the defendants "used sham entities to obtain copyrights to pornographic movies—some of which they filmed themselves—and then uploaded those movies to file-sharing websites in order to lure people to download the movies."
I'm still laughing at the oxymoron "integrity of our profession" quoted in the article, but on the whole this is very good news. Two very crooked lawyers are likely headed to prison.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 17 2016, @11:42PM
I don't think you can really compare this pair to Microsoft, fraudulent craftsmen, browbeaten techs, or much of anything else. These two lawyers worked hard to undermine any code of ethics they may ever heard of. They outright lied to multiple judges, on many different issues. These two are the scum of the scum. The term "justice" has no meaning to them, other than "a tool with which to extract money from chumps". The best comparisons you could make would probably be RIAA/MPAA type lawyers who first buy laws, then twist those laws into knots to get the results they want. Who remembers when DirectTV went after everyone on earth who purchased a certain type of chip? Those guys were bad, but they weren't even in Prenda's league.
I'm sure that there are some lawyers out there who are as bad as these two, but you'll have a hard time finding them. These are the worst of the worst. How many lawyers will KNOWINGLY tell a blatant lie to a judge? To dozens of judges? The trail of dummy corporations alone was blatantly fraudulent, and both these jerks denied any ownership of any of them, time and time again.
I am a little amused. These sorry excuses for humanity aren't likely to get a "fair" trial. Every member of the bar, no matter how good or how bad, is going to be pissed at them. Their own counsel is unlikely to work any harder than necessary to defend them. They probably need O.J. Simpson's "dream team" to defend them.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MadTinfoilHatter on Sunday December 18 2016, @04:56AM
I don't think you can really compare this pair to Microsoft, fraudulent craftsmen, browbeaten techs, or much of anything else. These two lawyers worked hard to undermine any code of ethics they may ever heard of. They outright lied to multiple judges, on many different issues. These two are the scum of the scum. The term "justice" has no meaning to them, other than "a tool with which to extract money from chumps".
...and that differs from Microsoft, how?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday December 18 2016, @05:59AM
Mostly in that they didn't buy out several legislators first..
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 18 2016, @12:34PM
You mean they rented them?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday December 18 2016, @09:10PM
Eh...legislators are a lot like American beer in that regard I suppose =P
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 18 2016, @06:20AM
Microsoft isn't a law firm. Microsoft didn't spend 4 or more years in law school, studying ethics, morals, laws, philosophy, the history of law, etc ad nauseum. Bill Gates was a cutthroat businessman from the beginning. He didn't violate any public trust, because only fools trusted him to start with. Al Capone was an evil sumbitch, but he was a little less evil than a crooked cop.
(Score: 2) by stormreaver on Sunday December 18 2016, @11:29AM
Bill Gates was a cutthroat businessman from the beginning.
Bill Gates didn't represent Microsoft to the Courts. His lawyers did. And his lawyers were indistinguishable from Prenda lawyers.