Angry Federal Judge and the Porn Trolls

[Papewaio]

I've got to say when you find a good judge or lawyer they are so awesome.

http://www.popehat.com/2013/03/11/br...w-is-the-star/

Link to popehat about a case I saw featured a few times in Ars Technica.

"There are few things more terrifying to a lawyer than a furious federal judge.

Today I saw one of those things.

It was a federal judge who was furious, intimately familiar with the case, and consummately prepared for the hearing.

Today United States District Court Judge Otis D. Wright II made it explicitly, abundantly, frighteningly clear that he believes the principals of Prenda Law have engaged in misconduct — and that he means to get to the bottom of it."

Long read, easy for the lay person to understand and it points out where TV vs real life normally diverge.

" By the end of the calls, there was a stunned silence in the courtroom, and I suspected that many spectators were sharing with me a deep sympathy for Mr. Cooper and an abiding sense of revulsion for John Steele. Judge Wright rather clearly felt mercy towards Mr. Cooper as well, some of which bled into pointed comments to Brett Gibbs' legal team. "You turn it from the O-F-F position to the O-N position" he said rather sharply when Gibbs' counsel asked how to turn the monitor on their table on."

Notable exception with this paragraph:

"We're All Perry Mason In Here

In real life, people in the audience in court proceedings do not spring up to make dramatic revelations, because that gets you arrested. Today, it happened. Just after Gibbs testified that he had only limited responsibility for AF Holdings, an attorney in the audience stood and asked to be heard. I cringed, waiting for the kill. But Judge Wright asked him who he was and what he wanted. He identified himself as an attorney for Paul Godfread, who in turn is Alan Cooper's attorney. Gibbs, he said, spoke with him in November 2012 and represented himself as "national counsel" for AF Holdings, one of the Prenda Law clients. Wright shook his head. "Have you noticed," he said in rhetorical tones, "that every representation made by a lawyer with Prenda Law is not true." The lawyer sat back down again. Some might say that didn't bode well for Prenda."

The Federal Judge is a former Marine and deputy sherrif from Tuskegee ... isn't that were some famous WWII airman were from?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_D._Wright_II

[Greyblades]

Um... some context would be appreciated. I

[Lemur]

This has been an ongoing saga ... melodrama ... soap opera? Anyway, something in between serial drama and Mexican masked wrestling. Let me see if I can do it justice with a summation (puns intended):

Creepy lawyers create a series of shell companies (graph of known players here), all of which lead back to Prenda Law. They start suing John Does for filesharing porn. Basically they send out, "Give us X thousand dollars or we tell your family you downloaded Butthole Bandits" letters.

One of the cases comes to trial, in Florida (naturally), and it turns out the porn studio never heard of Prenda Law, any of its executives, or any of the shell companies. Every person involved in Prenda Law claims they have no idea what's going on ... even though they filed the lawsuit.

Fast forward. Threatening letters go out all over the nation. Names being forged, identities misused, shell companies within shell companies.

Judge Wright in LA believes Prenda Law is running a big, multi-level scam. (He's doubtless correct.) Judge demands that all of the relevant people from Prenda Law show up in his courtroom. (The list is a little fuzzy, because some of these people probably don't exist.) Prenda Law files a last-minute brief declaring that the judge has no jurisdiction, that they can't make it in due to expense, and the dog ate their homework.

A whole 'nother lawyer who is (probably) retained by Prenda Law shows up, as well as a guy (Brett Gibbs on this chart) who once worked for one of the shell companies , quit, had his name used on thousands of letters after he quit, and who sorta-kinda kept helping Prenda Law out. As he sued them.

Insert furious federal judge and an attempt to get to the bottom of things.

[Papewaio]

Context is as Lemur put it.

People getting blackmailed into paying up or having their illegal porn downloads told to their families and associates. Shell companies, fake CEOs, absurd amounts of misdirection and enough spice to make this better then any real life soap opera.

Sleazy lawyers have ran afoul of a Judge who would give Dredd a run for his money in the dry wit stakes.

More then one watcher is complaining that they will die of overdose by popcorn before this is over.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

...The Federal Judge is a former Marine and deputy sherrif from Tuskegee ... isn't that were some famous WWII airman were from?

Yes, the famous "Red Tails" from the 15th Air Force. African-american descent, from back when all of the units were racially separated. The had an admirable combat record.

[drone]

My understanding of the case: Some bright spark at Prenda clued into what the RIAA was doing (threatening to sue music downloaders) and decided to take it a little further. Instead of blackmailing over music, they decide to hit people with letters about downloading teh pr0n, demanding payment or else a big nasty embarrassing public lawsuit would occur. One small problem, they didn't actually represent the holders of the IP, they just planned on keeping the money themselves. Eventually, they sent threatening letters to people with a clue, and it blew up in their face. With any luck, the perpetrators will be disbarred and put in jail for blackmail, tax evasion, and countless other crimes.

[Major Robert Dump]

Shout out for mentioning Butthole Bandits

[Lemur]

Shout out for mentioning Butthole Bandits

I have come to regard BB as the totemic hypothetical porn film of the Org. Like a mascot, but sweatier.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Endless popcorn....How awesome is this!

[drone]

The judge has laid down the smack, complete with Star Trek references.

Accusations of fraud and moral turpitude, referrals to state bars for disbarment, and:

Third, though Plaintiffs boldly probe the outskirts of law, the only enterprise they resemble is RICO. The federal agency eleven decks up is familiar with their prime directive and will gladly refit them for their next voyage. The Court will refer this matter to the United States Attorney for the Central District of California. The [court] will also refer this matter to the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service and will notify all judges before whom these attorneys have pending cases.

Have fun with the IRS, scumsuckers!

[Lemur]

Much as I love Ars, Popehat has done the bulk of the reporting on Prenda Law for years. Their take on today's ruling:

This order is catastrophic to Prenda and its attorneys. It will be filed in every case in which they are fighting sanctions across the nation, and cannot help but have a galvanizing effect on those proceedings. The U.S. Attorney's Office will very likely launch a grand jury investigation, and the IRS CID will assist. Federal grand jury investigations are very slow, but represent experienced practitioners bringing almost unlimited resources to bear against their targets. State bars and federal bars will launch their own investigations. Prenda Law's principals will face dangerous, expensive, relentless attacks from all sides, and it is entirely possible they will face criminal charges if the feds agree with Judge Wright's conclusions.

Can they appeal? Certainly. That, too, will be protracted and expensive. An appeal filed this week might be briefed in October 2013 and heard by the Ninth Circuit in, say, May 2014. The other courts won't wait to rule on sanctions, and state and federal bars likely won't delay. The U.S. Attorney's Office and IRS CID certainly won't. They may take many months, or even years, but they grind. Oh, do they grind.

Judge Wright's order, with its Star Trek references, shows imagination. But all the imagination in the galaxy couldn't produce a much worse result for Prenda, Steele, Hansmeier, Duffy, and Gibbs.

If they are smart, they're talking to their lawyers about flipping on each other right now.

[Lemur]

P.S.: Judge Wright peppered the entire document with Star Trek references, from opening the brief with a Wrath of Khan quote to discussion of the "prime directive." Big-time love for Trekkie nerd federal judge laying down smack on copyright trolls.

I may have to change my pants now.

[TinCow]

Adios, suckers. One of the nice things about our industry is that you don't even need to break the law to get disbarred. If you make the legal industry look bad, that's usually enough.

[Lemur]

For anybody still following these cases:

Porn trolling saga gets—if possible—even weirder