Five founders and administrators of a popular website for downloading movies and TV shows have been indicted for copyright infringement.
The indictment handed down Thursday in federal court named the operators of a site called NinjaVideo that drew millions of visitors between 2008 and 2010, when the government shut it down.
According to the indictment, in one week alone, the website illegally allowed more than 300,000 illegal movie downloads and more than 600,000 television show downloads.
Visitors to the site generally downloaded content for free, but some paid a $25 subscription for access to additional content and others made donations online. The five defendants received $500,000 in proceeds from operating the site, according to the indictment.
A defense lawyer said Friday he is reviewing the indictment and declined further comment.