Alleged KickassTorrents Operator is Now Officially a Fugitive

[shamu726]

All defendants in the criminal case against KickassTorrents are now at large. A few weeks ago the news broke that alleged operator Artem Vaulin had fled Poland. After that happened his U.S. legal team withdrew from the case. The court has now officially moved the matter to the fugitive calendar, which means that it will remain inactive until there's a new arrest.

At the start of 2016, KickassTorrents was the most popular torrent site on the Internet.

 

With millions of daily visitors, it had even surpassed the mighty Pirate Bay. A few months later, however, the site was gone.

 

The site’s quick demise was the result of a criminal investigation by the FBI. This resulted in three indictments, with alleged operator Artem Vaulin being the main target.

 

Vaulin, who was born in Ukraine, was arrested at a Polish airport and later transferred to a local prison. The outstanding extradition request from the United States accused him of being the mastermind behind KickassTorrents, which ‘shared’ over $1 billion in copyrighted content.

 

The US immediately requested extradition, a process that turned out to take years. While awaiting the outcome, Vaulin was released on bail on the condition that he could not leave Poland. That promise was kept until a few weeks ago, when the defendant suddenly disappeared from the radar.

Vaulin Jumps Bail

United States Attorney John R. Lausch Jr. recently informed the federal court in Illinois that their suspect had jumped bail and gone ‘missing.’

 

“According to information recently received from the Polish Ministry of Justice, defendant Artem Vaulin has left Poland in violation of his release conditions, and his current whereabouts are unknown,” Lausch wrote.

 

This status update came as a surprise to nearly everyone involved, including Vaulin’s legal team in the US which informed us that they intended to withdraw from the case.

Defense Lawyers Withdraw

This is indeed what happened. Last week, Vaulin’s attorneys Theodore Poulos, Ira Rothken, Jared Smith, and Valentin Gurvits, asked the federal court to grant their withdrawal.

 

“Because Defendant Vaulin appears to have intentionally violated the conditions of release and became a fugitive, undersigned counsel are no longer amenable to representing Defendant Vaulin and wish to withdraw as his counsel,” they wrote.

Fugitive Calendar

This request was granted by the court which also decided to put the case on the fugitive calendar last Wednesday. This basically means that the case will remain inactive until the defendant is apprehended again. If that happens at all.

 

 

This may very well mean that the KickassTorrents case is dead. After the case was put on the fugitive calendar, United States Attorney John R. Lausch Jr submitted a new status report, indicating that it doesn’t anticipate the need for any further status hearings unless the defendants are located.

Other Defendants Never Arrested

In addition to Vaulin there are two other defendants, Oleksandr Radostin and Ievgen Kutsenko, who have never been apprehended and remain at large. This was confirmed by the United States Attorney as well.

 

“The remaining defendants in this case have not been arrested, and the government is not aware of any attorneys who represent them. The government will apprise the Court if the remaining defendants are arrested,” Lausch wrote.

 

It is worth noting that Vaulin previously offered to surrender to the US voluntarily under the right conditions. His legal team discussed this option with the US Government but, based on the lack of action afterwards, both parties were unable to reach an agreement.

 

 

Source: TorrentFreak

[zanderthunder]

For now, these fugitives are untouchable, thanks to the lack of jurisdiction.

[steven36]

4 hours ago, zanderthunder said:

For now, these fugitives are untouchable, thanks to the lack of jurisdiction.

Most likely he  back home in the Ukraine  a case  being a fugitive and a person being a fugitive is 2 different things this guy was a  fugitive when he jumped bail  he was already  a fugitive in the US   because he never  been to trial they argued that when he  try to get the case dismissed in 2017 the US won.

 

Kickass Torrents Creator Can't Get Criminal Case Tossed Out

  https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170805/00450537929/kickass-torrents-creator-cant-get-criminal-case-tossed-out.shtml

 

Quote

Vaulin is a fugitive and refuses to appear in this proceeding, the Court should decline to entertain his motion under the fugitive disentitlement doctrine. For the following reasons, the Court finds that the fugitive disentitlement doctrine applies here.

https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-vaulin

 

He just got lucky was all the only reason he got bail was he had health problems  , and it was Poland Justice System that failed  for giving some one who  the only way they caught him he visited  a USA friendly country bail he did not live in Poland  like Kim Dotcom live in New Zealand .  If he never got sick he still be in jail. the other  guys  have always been fugitives from justice every since they was indicted in 2016 because they never showed up  to court. Vaulin  was just a fugitive being held in Poland  .Now hes  a fugitive at large . Once you  become a fugitive it stays on your record forever  if they ever catch him again he will never get bail. He will  have watch his back the rest of his  life because  a Bounty Hunter can grab him  and collect a reward .International Bounty Hunters do exist it jut depends  on what you done  and how bad they want you.  If your wanted  for War Crimes  they will  use black ops  on you.   U.S. Special Forces spotted in Ukraine    Georgian and Ukrainian forces  are being trained by the US

💀

[caraid]

On 11/2/2020 at 12:03 AM, steven36 said:

He will  have watch his back the rest of his  life because  a Bounty Hunter can grab him  and collect a reward .International Bounty Hunters do exist it jut depends  on what you done  and how bad they want you.  If your wanted  for War Crimes  they will  use black ops  on you.   U.S. Special Forces spotted in Ukraine    Georgian and Ukrainian forces  are being trained by the US

 

Do you know of any bounty hunters who never fails in their mission? Because there is this world's wealthiest fugitive that many governments are trying to get their hands on; governments such as the US, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Malaysia and Singapore.

[zanderthunder]

On 11/4/2020 at 7:56 PM, caraid said:

 

Do you know of any bounty hunters who never fails in their mission? Because there is this world's wealthiest fugitive that many governments are trying to get their hands on; governments such as the US, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Malaysia and Singapore.

Search Jho Low in Google. He's still on the run and apparently he's untouchable.