Hana Amal Beshara, Copyright Infringement, Virginia 2011

WASHINGTON – Five individuals have been charged with a federal crime in connection with the operation of the NinjaVideo website, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride for the Eastern District of Virginia, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton.

The indictment, returned yesterday in Alexandria, Va., charges Hana Amal Beshara, 29, of North Brunswick, N.J., Matthew David Howard Smith, 23, of Raleigh, N.C., Joshua David Evans, 34, of North Bend, Wash., Zoi Mertzanis, 36, a resident of Greece, and Jeremy Lynn Andrew, 33, of Eugene, Ore., with one count of conspiracy and five substantive copyright infringement counts.

The defendants are accused of operating the NinjaVideo website, which provided millions of website visitors with the ability to download infringing copies of copyright-protected movies and television programs in high-quality formats. The website allegedly offered many copyrighted movies and television shows free of charge, and offered access to a greater selection of copyrighted content for a “donation” of at least $25.

The indictment alleges that the defendants collected more than $500,000 during the website’s two-and-a-half years of operation and facilitated the infringement of millions of dollars of copyrighted movies, television programs and software products. The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 16, 2011, at 9:00 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Criminal indictments are only charges and are not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jay V. Prabhu and Lindsay A. Kelly, and Trial Attorney Glenn Alexander of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section.

The investigation was conducted by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations-led National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center). This IPR Center is one of the U.S. government’s key weapons in the fight against criminal counterfeiting and piracy.

According to the indictment, the NinjaVideo website operated from February 2008 until it was shut down by law enforcement in June 2010. Many of the movies offered on the website were still playing in theaters, while others had not yet been released.

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