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Police arrest and charge "maVen" of piracy scene

6 December 2007 18:59 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 37 comments

For anyone familiar with the piracy scene, for years the name maVen has usually meant very high quality telesyncs. However, after investigations by the FBI and Canadian authorities, Geremi Adam (aka maVen) is facing up to 6 months in jail.

From 2004 to 2006, maVen released telesyncs of the blockbusters �Bourne Supremacy�, �Collateral�, �Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire�, �Chronicles of Narnia�,�Underworld Evolution�, �Mission Impossible 3′, �X-Men: The Last Stand�, �Cars� and �Superman Returns�, all usually within a couple of days of the theatrical release.

In July 2006 however, maVen releases disappeared and we may now why know. According to reports, an FBI investigation in the US was handed over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in April 2006.

�He was referred to us by the FBI,� said RCMP Staff Sgt. Noel St-Hilaire. �They had an investigation in the States.�

In September 2006, thanks to information from the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association, the RCMP arrested the 25 year old Adam outside a Montreal theater after allegedly camming the movies �How to Eat Fried Worms� and �Invincible.� His laptop was seized along with his camcorder and other equipment but Adam released. He was arrested again just a month later at another theater.

Allegedly, Adam had been selling copies of his movies on the internet, making about $300 to $1000 for each, before they were redistributed on Warez and torrent sites and sold on street corners around the US and Canada.

After Adam's second arrest, there was a 14 month wait before the police had enough evidence to charge him and he now faces two counts of "distributing copyright material on the internet."

According to RCMP Staff Sgt. Noel St-Hilaire, Adam got lucky however. He was arrested before new legislations cracking down on movie cammers in Canada passed. St-Hilaire explained. �Unfortunately at the time there was no legislation that forbid anyone from filming in a cinema. There�s not much we could do then other than issue a warning.�

Adam is set to appear in court in January and will face up to 6 months in prison and a $25,000 CAD fine.

Source:
TF

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Discuss this article!	There are more user comments available, read them here
tin23uk (Junior Member) 7 December 2007 16:44
*Quote:* *Originally posted by P51ride:* What a moron !!!! Well, we was making "$300 to $1000" per movie he filmed. I'd like to know who was buying . . . he wasnt selling them at $300 to $1000 per copy to strangers on the street, he was selling copies to be copied and distributed on the streets by the people that do the street selling. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 7 December 2007 17:52
One dose not try and sell ones fish... they catch from the electronic sea... [ + quote]
P51ride (Newbie) 7 December 2007 18:48
The reasons I called him a moron have been stated by other members of the forum. The other reason is he possibly could cause trouble for a lot of other people who use torrents and be tracked down. Just My $.04 [ + quote]
bilbo65 (AfterDawn Addict) 7 December 2007 18:53
Justice prevails again. [ + quote]
badkrma (Newbie) 7 December 2007 18:54
Well I am impressed he was from here in Canada, you know the proud pirating capitol of the world :).. I really liked his movies when at that moment in time that was all you could find. Kinda sad he got foolish, but happy he got caught before the new legislation. But as one is caught there are new up and comers ready to make better and survive longer than the first ones... [ + quote]
pcrazy99 (Member) 7 December 2007 23:07
I'm sure there will be others to take his place. Tougher drug legislation hasn't stopped traffickers illegal activities. [ + quote]
B33rdrnkr (Newbie) 7 December 2007 23:17
good quality stuff.. to those who think he should get stiffer punishment "judge not who should be judged first" [ + quote]
M4DHATT3R (Newbie) 8 December 2007 1:45
Pirating for profit sets yourself no further away from the capitalist mentality than the big corporations we all complain about - money. Pirate all night and day but do it for yourself, not for a buck. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8 December 2007 3:09
Rotary (AfterDawn Addict) 8 December 2007 4:15
"Let those among you who are without sin, cast the first stone" gotto love the bible theres a saying for all occasions ;-] Need help? Come chat here real time... With me and more AfterDawner's http://www.adbuddies.org <-- Java web based chatting and IRC http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp (download JAVA here for the JAVA chat!) [ + quote]
crazy91 (Newbie) 8 December 2007 5:23
very much a sad day,maVen done some quality ts copys, [ + quote]
domie (Member) 8 December 2007 7:33
*Originally posted by Rotary:* "Let those among you who are without sin, cast the first stone" gotto love the bible theres a saying for all occasions ;-] well, no offence but it really depends if it's a stone or a massive brick doesn't it ? this type of activity plays right into the hands of the MPAA and RIAA who always whinge that the real reason why these people share this stuff is to make a profit and associate with criminal gangs. we all know that a lot of the street sellers in many countries are illegal immigrants from china, africa etc and most of them are controlled by criminal gangs who take the profits and probably also smuggle them into the countries to do it. it's really difficult to claim " we p2p fans only do it for fun " when you have one of the top guys on the scene selling his stuff to networks who then resell the stuff on the street. [ + quote]
Rotary (AfterDawn Addict) 8 December 2007 9:16
money ah, the root of all evil... trouble is its a fact of nurture, it makes the world go round and round... [ + quote]
MekkaKing (Newbie) 8 December 2007 10:05
Man that sucks big time! MaVen had quality releases that I quite enjoyed for some time now. The government and law enforcement are wasting their time, and not to mention the publics money trying to crack down on Movie piracy and file sharing, and I can tell you right now its a battle that their not going to win. Its almost impossible to control what people do with their computers on the internet because the internet was created with the fact that people would connect to each other and would share files/data between them and with others. Anyway keep your head high Adam, in the end its a battle that we, the public are going to win. There is no way that they can stop people from sharing their files, and the key word is "Their" which means they can do whatever they want with them. The only thing I dissagree with was the fact that he was making money off of this act. File sharing should be 100% legal for sure, but people shouldnt try to profit from it. [ + quote]
7thsinger (AfterDawn Addict) 8 December 2007 10:14
*Originally posted by Rotary:* money ah, the root of all evil... trouble is its a fact of nurture, it makes the world go round and round... Not to correct, but since you were citing Bible twice in the same thread, i thought i'd hop in and point out just a minor detail. It's not money is the root of all evil. The love of money is the root of all evil. But you're absolutely right, it does make the world go round. He should have expected some legal repercussion at some point. Selling the pirated material is setting yourself up for a takedown eventually. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8 December 2007 11:34
Rotary (AfterDawn Addict) 8 December 2007 13:00
*Quote:* *Originally posted by Rotary:* money ah, the root of all evil... trouble is its a fact of nurture, it makes the world go round and round... Not to correct, but since you were citing Bible twice in the same thread, i thought i'd hop in and point out just a minor detail. It's not money is the root of all evil. The love of money is the root of all evil. But you're absolutely right, it does make the world go round. He should have expected some legal repercussion at some point. Selling the pirated material is setting yourself up for a takedown eventually. kool thats the trouble see, if kept to yourself only you know, tell just 1 person and bang bang bye bye... [ + quote]
DoomLight (Newbie) 8 December 2007 13:33
movies suck lately. no reason to download [ + quote]
xSModder (Junior Member) 8 December 2007 16:06
Well that's craptastic.. MaVen releases were actually good. Screw the money hungry movie associations. Time to replace him tenfold. Who's bringing the cameras? ;) [ + quote]
Edikiss (Newbie) 8 December 2007 19:31
Ah Crap. by by maVen. you have done us proud. The man wins again. just goes to show you. money talks and bs walks. The internet is slowly becoming another money maker for big bizz. if it is not already. [ + quote]
novicebb (Member) 8 December 2007 20:16
First of all I don't get this whole thing about how it seems to be ok to pirate but if you profit from it then that is where you cross the line. Even pirating cost money. Someone has to purchase the right equipment and film copyrighted material. Have access to booths, have a computer to compress and encode video, to clean up audio and video and even uploading and hosting on servers cost money. Pirating is wrong and illegal. So if you are already committing an act that is illegal why not get paid for it. If I crack a software that I know thousands, if not millions of people will want and I know it will eventually be distributed on the web by tens of thousands of people then you damn well better believe I am going to get paid for it. If I get paid for it or if I just upload it for all of you to enjoy I am still going to get charged with Distribution so who cares if someone gets paid for it. [ + quote]
windsong (Junior Member) 8 December 2007 20:59
"an FBI investigation in the US was handed over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in April" Sometimes the jokes write themselves. [ + quote]
bangor09 (Newbie) 9 December 2007 3:16
Too bad about maVen, He should have stop after the first arrest, lay some months before camming again, I don't agree about making the money, yes equipment it's expensive and stuff, but i get my satisfaction from getting the movies I want at the fraction or no cost, the pc I bought it for other reasons anyway (work) the burning it's an extra, and to quote another post, "Let those among you who are without sin, cast the first stone" if you've downloaded a song, a program, a file or anything that you know it doesn't belong to you, don't go saying pirating it's wrong and stuff..."sometimes the best defense it's silence". Let's hope maVen gets off lightly, and that he saved some of that money for a lawyer, need him back soon, although movies in theaters ain't that good this months.... [ + quote]
casemodd (Newbie) 9 December 2007 8:03
Their is a great deal of satisfaction when your getting paid through pirating. Yes you need quite a power full cpu,memory to encode decode but when you built it's downhill after that.Like others have said if your downloading movies might as well get paid for it nothing wrong in making some extra cash on the side. One more thing do they think this will stop cammers & hard core pirates. One group goes down another pops up. Their are much better groups out their now & you don't see them getting caught. MaVen was good but he should of known the risks we all know the risks in downloading but its not going to stop us is it nope. Always hid your tracks online & p2p filters. [ + quote]
7thsinger (AfterDawn Addict) 9 December 2007 9:30
*Originally posted by windsong:* "an FBI investigation in the US was handed over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in April" Sometimes the jokes write themselves. Lol! No kidding. And Shepards we shall be... [ + quote]
B33rdrnkr (Newbie) 9 December 2007 23:58
*Originally posted by bangor09:* Too bad about maVen, He should have stop after the first arrest, lay some months before camming again, I don't agree about making the money, yes equipment it's expensive and stuff, but i get my satisfaction from getting the movies I want at the fraction or no cost, the pc I bought it for other reasons anyway (work) the burning it's an extra, and to quote another post, "Let those among you who are without sin, cast the first stone" if you've downloaded a song, a program, a file or anything that you know it doesn't belong to you, don't go saying pirating it's wrong and stuff..."sometimes the best defense it's silence". Let's hope maVen gets off lightly, and that he saved some of that money for a lawyer, need him back soon, although movies in theaters ain't that good this months.... [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 10 December 2007 0:01
dawnman (Newbie) 10 December 2007 15:34
Don't give up maven and all others. yes i give these guys a few bucks a street corners and even in most corner stores. WHY because sometimes you go to the movies, spend all that money and the FU(%#@ movie sucks. If i buy it at the corner i won't feel so bad. NO LAW will stop this from happening, sales will continue just like drugs, they are here forever! [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 23 December 2007 18:51
*Quote:* Adam is set to appear in court in January and will face up to 6 months in prison and a $25,000 CAD fine. He is very lucky that he got arrested in Canada that has laws that are not very drastic. In saying this i find this punishment is very soft for a pirate that is a chronic well pirate. :P [ + quote]