A 68-year-old man in the United Kingdom has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for operating one of the country’s most prominent illegal IPTV streaming services. Milan Ibrahim ran the operation for three years, generating £980,812 (approximately $1.3 million USD) by reselling live broadcasts from rights holders including the BBC, ITV, Sky, and the Premier League to subscribers in the UK and abroad. The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) at the City of London Police led the investigation and described Ibrahim’s setup as a “sophisticated operation.”
During enforcement activity, PIPCU seized and shut down all 80 servers powering the illegal streams, cutting off access for Ibrahim’s subscribers. Authorities noted that the server seizures could lead to the identification of users who paid for and accessed the illegal service, who may face fines or other consequences for their participation. Ibrahim will also face Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings aimed at recovering the money generated by the service. The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) and the Premier League both participated in the enforcement action; Stefan Sergot, Director of Legal Enforcement at the Premier League, called the operation “significant.”