Overview:
Car YouTuber by the name of Omi in a Hellcat, or Bill Omar Carrasquillo, has a front-row seat in one of America’s largest piracy cases ever. He is a well-known automotive YouTuber who’s amassed over a $50 million net worth and over 50 cars from premium luxury brands. He made his fortune streaming television channels at a much lower, more affordable price than cable TV
What Happened:
On September 21, 2021, the FBI raided his house and seized all of his property ranging from his house, 40+ properties around the Philadelphia area, his 50+ cars, and his clothing line company that he ran in a warehouse behind his house. This isn’t the first time Carrasquillo has had the FBI raid his home and seize all of his assets, however it wasn’t to the scale of this most recent raid.
The last time was for a tax issue, but this time was for one of America’s largest piracy cases ever. His television streaming company, Gears TV, was caught for fraudulently obtaining cable television accounts and reselling copyrighted content to thousands of unknowing subscribers. Another reason for the FBI raid was for allegedly defrauded banks and retail processors to secure their own merchant processing accounts. “You can’t just go and monetize someone elses copyrighted content with impunity,” says FBI’s Philadelphia division special agent Bradley S. Benavides; “that’s the whole point of securing a copyright, theft is theft.”
Charges: Carrasquillo, at the lead of the operation, could face 514 years in prison, while 2 partners could also face 244 years each. Carrasquillo was “charged with one count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and related offenses, 19 counts of public performance of a protected work; 4 counts of access device fraud; 6 counts of wire fraud; 3 counts of making false statements to a bank, among a litany of other federal crimes,” as reported by The Hill.
Update:
As of February 4th, 2022, Carrasquillo finally pled guilty to the charges against him in hopes that cooperating with the FBI and working to fix what is wrong will lead to a shorter sentence time. He did not originally plead guilty in hopes that they’d start bargaining.
Thoughts:
As far as legally speaking, the moves pulled by both parties we’re correct because, though he has so many charges of copyright infringement and fraud, at the end of the day, there was no intent to hurt anybody on a physical level which are the worst crimes. Though there has not been a complete resolution yet, I believe a 10-year sentence on his charges is fair.
