OiNK admin charged with conspiracy to defraud

It’s been almost a year since the BitTorrent tracker OiNK was closed down in a much-publicized raid by the British and Dutch police. The site’s creator, Alan Ellis, was arrested following the shutdown, and Oink was accused of being one of the internet’s primary sources for album leaks. The British government claimed that they were going after uploaders, and today, they are making good on that promise.

Alan Ellis has been charged with conspiracy to defraud and, while no copyright-related charges have been brought up against him, at least two former users of the site (of six who were arrested in May) were each charged curiously for uploading a single album. Further details about the charges are not available at the moment, but are likely to be released later this month when the case is heard at a magistrate’s court.

In other semi-related news, a 26 year old man was sentenced today to 18 months in prison, three years of supervised release and a $20,000 fine for his work on the site EliteTorrents – looks like it’s a bad week for torrent site admins.