Justice Department blitz on sports websites hits Superbowl streaming

The US Department of Justice has again demonstrated its penchant for timing, using copyright laws to take down 16 online sports live streaming websites just hours ahead of Sunday’s Superbowl championship final in the USA.

The man behind the Black Friday online poker prosecutions, Preet Bharara, is understood to be the lead prosecutor in the enforcement action, which saw 28-year-old Michigan operator Yonjo Quiroa alias Ronaldo Solano charged with a copyright offence in respect of several of the shutdown sites over the period February 2010 to January 2012.

Local reports quote Baharara as commenting: “These websites and their operators deprive sports leagues and networks of legitimate revenue in what amounts to virtual thievery.”

The websites are reportedly firstrow.tv, firstrowsports.com, firstrowsports.net, firstrowsports.tv, hq-streams.tv, robplay.tv, soccertvlive.net, sports95.com, sports95.net, sports95.org, sportswwe.net, sportswwe.tv, sportswwe.com, xonesports.tv, youwwe.com and youwwe.net.

Quiroa faces trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on a date yet to be specified.