KickassTorrents owner arrested by FBI, domains seized

The U.S. Government has arrested the alleged owner of KickassTorrents, the world's largest torrent site. The 30-year-old Ukrainian was arrested in Poland today and is charged with criminal copyright infringement and money laundering. In addition, a federal court in Chicago has ordered the seizure of several KAT domain names.

With millions of unique visitors per day KickassTorrents (KAT) has become the most-used torrent site on the Internet, beating even The Pirate Bay.

Today, however, the site has run into a significant roadblock after U.S. authorities announced the arrest of the site’s alleged owner.

The 30-year-old Artem Vaulin, from Ukraine, was arrested today in Poland from where the United States has requested his extradition.

In a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the owner is charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of criminal copyright infringement.

*torrentfreak.com/images/katcomplaint.png

The complaint further reveals that the feds posed as an advertiser, which revealed a bank account associated with the site.

It also shows that Apple handed over personal details of Vaulin after the investigator cross-referenced an IP-address used for an iTunes transaction with an IP-address that was used to login to KAT’s Facebook account.

“Records provided by Apple showed that tirm@me.com conducted an iTunes transaction using IP Address 109.86.226.203 on or about July 31, 2015. The same IP Address was used on the same day to login into the KAT Facebook,” the complaint reads.

In addition to the arrest in Poland, the court also granted the seizure of a bank account associated with KickassTorrents, as well as several of the site’s domain names.

Commenting on the announcement, Assistant Attorney General Caldwell said that KickassTorrents helped to distribute over $1 billion in pirated files.

“Vaulin is charged with running today’s most visited illegal file-sharing website, responsible for unlawfully distributing well over $1 billion of copyrighted materials.”

“In an effort to evade law enforcement, Vaulin allegedly relied on servers located in countries around the world and moved his domains due to repeated seizures and civil lawsuits. His arrest in Poland, however, demonstrates again that cybercriminals can run, but they cannot hide from justice.”

KAT’s .com and .tv domains are expected to be seized soon by Verisign. For the main Kat.cr domain and several others, seizure warrants will be sent to the respective authorities under the MLAT treaty.

At the time of writing the main domain name Kat.cr has trouble loading, but various proxies still appear to work. KAT’s status page doesn’t list any issues, but we assume that this will be updated shortly.

TorrentFreak has reached out to the KAT team for a comment on the news and what it means for the site’s future, but we have yet to hear back.

Source: Feds Seize KickassTorrents Domains, Arrest Owner - TorrentFrea

God f--ing dammit. First TPB, now this. With the new DRM, it was harder than ever to crack games. And now KAT, the last bastion of torrents, has fallen. Mainstream piracy is dead.

Read the rules and choose your words carefully.

Desmond David said:
Read the rules and choose your words carefully.

I edited it. This is a dark day for pirates.

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This is very bad.
It will be like this, they close one site, 2-3 more site will come up. They can't stop it like Hitler. They should educate people first.

From what I see. The feds only try to stop whichever is the most popular torrent site. First they used to target TPB, but now KAT is more popular than TPB, so they went after it. I think the lesser or private trackers are safe, for now.

So Apple refuses to unlock a terrorist's phone but gladly gave away the icloud details of the owner of kickass torrents to aid his arrest :dead_NF:

many torrent sites have gone down in the past (btjunkie etc) and now Kickass..which is mostly people use.

alienempire said:
So Apple refuses to unlock a terrorist's phone but gladly gave away the icloud details of the owner of kickass torrents to aid his arrest :dead_NF:

another reason to avoid iphone lel

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alienempire said:
So Apple refuses to unlock a terrorist's phone but gladly gave away the icloud details of the owner of kickass torrents to aid his arrest :dead_NF:

Very good point

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Zangetsu said:
many torrent sites have gone down in the past (btjunkie etc) and now Kickass..which is mostly people use.

There are many clone sites still on for kat.cr, you can't log in some of them and some users still uploading new torrents to that clone sites.

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Desmond David said:
From what I see. The feds only try to stop whichever is the most popular torrent site. First they used to target TPB, but now KAT is more popular than TPB, so they went after it. I think the lesser or private trackers are safe, for now.

But kat.cr was really good torrents site. Points members moderators tips tricks help forum blog everything was there. Now it's like emptiness. Those who know about KickAss, they definitely know about "Extra"..

Very Sad News Indeed - Kick was very organized with ratings and file details - Properly Categorized content as well resolution (for video) to choose / poster / Album Art. :dead_NF: :sick_NF:

Nerevarine said:
another reason to avoid iphone lel

Exactly

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Even the proxys are not working :crying2_NF:

Until the feds seize the server itself, KAT won't truly be dead. I think they are trying to block the proxies one at a time.

But I will probably miss KAT more than TPB though.

alienempire said:
So Apple refuses to unlock a terrorist's phone but gladly gave away the icloud details of the owner of kickass torrents to aid his arrest :dead_NF:

Terrorist is not a threat to Apple's profit margins but kickass is a threat to it's profit margin unless the terrorist attacks Apple HQ.

chimera201 said:
Terrorist is not a threat to Apple's profit margins but kickass is a threat to it's profit margin unless the terrorist attacks Apple HQ.

Good point. Apple cares about privacy until it affects their business. But same could be said about a lot of companies.

It's not just the torrents, or the s/l ratio they had. KAT was unique among all its torrent brethren.

People often said "The community makes kat", and I can agree, just the amount of people I talked to about everything and anything, the people who we could rely to make jokes or to be there to cheer you up. It was amazing. It's kinda sad because although I have found a few of them here-there are people who I talked to daily and have no way to contact them now. It was a great community that no torrenting website could ever live up to. Idk this might have sounded cheesy but it's the truth.
We might bring back other domains and cache servers, but there is no bringing back that brotherhood.

Anyway, this is a good article on chances of a comeback: Can KickassTorrents Make a Comeback? - TorrentFrea

Finally, and crucially, the investigators issued a warrant directed at the Canadian webhost of KickassTorrents. This was one of the biggest scores as it provided them with full copies of KAT’s hard drives, including the email server.

“I observed […] that they were all running the same Linux Gentoo operating system, and that they contained files with user information, SSH access logs, and other information, including a file titled ‘passwd’ located in the ‘etc’ directory,” the HSI agent writes.

“I also located numerous files associated with KAT, including directories and logs associated to their name servers, emails and other files,” he adds.

Considering all the information U.S. law enforcement has in its possession, it’s doubtful that KAT will resume its old operation anytime soon.

Technically it won’t be hard to orchestrate a Pirate Bay-style comeback, as there are probably some backups available. However, now that the site has been heavily compromised and an ongoing criminal investigation is underway, it would be a risky endeavor.

Similarly, uploaders and users may also worry about what information the authorities have in their possession. The complaint cites private messages that were sent through KAT, suggesting that the authorities have access to a significant amount of data.

While regular users are unlikely to be targeted, the information may provide useful for future investigations into large-scale uploaders. More clarity on this, the site’s future, and what it means for the torrent ecosystem, is expected to become evident when the dust settles.

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TechnoBOY said:
Exactly

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Even the proxys are not working :crying2_NF:

Clone/copycat sites are working without sign in if you want to download some things

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Akira said:
It's not just the torrents, or the s/l ratio they had. KAT was unique among all its torrent brethren.

People often said "The community makes kat", and I can agree, just the amount of people I talked to about everything and anything, the people who we could rely to make jokes or to be there to cheer you up. It was amazing. It's kinda sad because although I have found a few of them here-there are people who I talked to daily and have no way to contact them now. It was a great community that no torrenting website could ever live up to. Idk this might have sounded cheesy but it's the truth.
We might bring back other domains and cache servers, but there is no bringing back that brotherhood.

Anyway, this is a good article on chances of a comeback: Can KickassTorrents Make a Comeback? - TorrentFrea

Exactly, brotherhood... It was more than just a torrent site.. I am going to miss my all friends and free support for servers and encoding stuff..
It was like Facebook for torrents..

The isoHunt team created a KAT mirror that is hosting files from the last year to year-and-a-half. So, not everything is available. Furthermore, there is no forum, no community, and no support. And you shouldn’t get too attached, the administrators warn.

If you need to download something, I wont link it here, just do a google search.

“It’s not perfect but if users need to save and archive something it’s time,” the team told VentureBeat. “We don’t know how long it can last, but at least it’s something.”

Wasn't IsoHunt shutdown in a similar way by the feds long time ago? How are they still operating?

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

Desmond David said:
Wasn't IsoHunt shutdown in a similar way by the feds long time ago? How are they still operating?

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

It was. The lawsuit ended in 2013 with the original Isohunt being shutdown by its founder. However, as it was shutdown voluntarily and with a deadline, people were able to backup almost 95% of the data and a copycat with the same name came back up soon enough. While it has no connections to the original, it still has a big torrent directory.

Someone Already Made a Kickass Torrents Clon

alienempire said:
So Apple refuses to unlock a terrorist's phone but gladly gave away the icloud details of the owner of kickass torrents to aid his arrest :dead_NF:

OT: in addition to what @chimera201 wrote, that could've been a farce in complicity with the feds/NoSuchAgency ("see! we care so much about user-privacy that cant/wont help with security-concerns as well.")

KickassTorrents may be down, but the KAT 'family' is still very much alive. A group of site admins and moderators have started a new community, bringing back many users of the site under the same roof. The new home doesn't offer any torrents, however, and it's still doubtful if the site will ever be restored to its full glory.

With an active community and millions of regular visitors, KickassTorrents was much more than a site to leech the latest torrents from. Many considered it to be their virtual home. Over the past few days, several members of the KAT team have regrouped in an effort to get the community part of the site back up. Since then they have launched Katcr.co, which hosts a forum where several staffers are present.

Speaking on behalf of the KAT-team that’s left, Mr.Black says that the criminal investigation won’t be the end of the community.

“We need to remember that Kickass Torrents is not simply about uploading, the heart and soul of KAT is our members, which are family and family is important as we all know. Nothing can ever take that away and no matter what happens we will not let our community down.”

“We guarantee that KAT will continue in one form or another and we will come back stronger than ever,” Mr.Black adds.

The forum, created by Mr.Prairi3DoG, has already gathered thousands of visitors over the past few days and continues to grow. While many of the original team members are present, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the original site will be restored as well. For now, the forum will give estranged KAT users a place to get together once again. However, many are also still looking for alternatives, with various KAT mirrors growing in popularity.

The KAT team has noticed this as well, but warns that none of these are connected to the old team, urging people to proceed with caution.

“Please be aware that there is no legitimate fully-working KAT site available so be cautious and never attempt to login to any fake sites that may appear online,” Mr.Black warns.

Meanwhile, the alleged operator of KickassTorrents faces extradition to the United States. As far as we know he still remains in Poland, but the authorities haven’t announced any new information since last week, while the court case remains sealed.

You can find the new community at Katc .

KAT - Kickass Torrent Its up guys!

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alienempire said:
So Apple refuses to unlock a terrorist's phone but gladly gave away the icloud details of the owner of kickass torrents to aid his arrest :dead_NF:

Is this you??

francis. on Twitter: "So Apple refuses to unlock a terrorist's phone but gladly gave away the icloud details of the owner of kickass torrents to aid his arrest&quot

TechnoBOY said:
KAT - Kickass Torrent Its up guys!

It's a clone, not a working website. They have a cache of recent torrents, and are building on it. Cant login, so cant post new torrents. Community isnt working. Decent place to download old torrents, however. Just in case. Bookmarked.

arijitsinha said:
Is this you??

francis. on Twitter: "So Apple refuses to unlock a terrorist's phone but gladly gave away the icloud details of the owner of kickass torrents to aid his arrest"

Nope I'm white :smile:

Petition · [url]*www.justice.gov/: Free Artem Vaulin! · Change.or[/url]
I dunno whether signing this petition would help but I did my part.

Dude, he is accused of multiple copyright violations.

The Pirate Bay co-founders did jail time, why would they release this guy?

Also, news so far is that they have "allegedly" arrested him. Until we get confirmation we don't know if he really is in custody.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

Guys any good alternatives to KAT, where there is active community to verify torrents and provide feedback..

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TechnoBOY said:
KAT - Kickass Torrent Its up guys!

They backed up 1-2 years data from KAT. now they want us to get your torrents fast before government takes down their clone site.

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gagan_kumar said:
Guys any good alternatives to KAT, where there is active community to verify torrents and provide feedback..

There is Extra****.cc i think it's old school best torrent site available and popular. By the time this site will be taken down by governments.
By taking down site like this and arresting owner, more people and site pops up. So there will be more alternative sites near future.

You can also use private trackers.

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Desmond David said:
You can also use private trackers.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

Had an account for IPtorrents which got closed due to inactivity, all the torrents i was downloading from kat...

I have an account on IPTorrents but no extra invites yet. Probably need to seed more.

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gagan_kumar said:
Had an account for IPtorrents which got closed due to inactivity, all the torrents i was downloading from kat...

You can try this site,
Opentrackers.org - Private Torrent Trackers & File Sharin

Navigate to public torrents..
You will find many sites to choose from.
Or its best and easy way that you can check your favorite torrent uploaders fav site for uploading torrent / torrenting..

gagan_kumar said:
Guys any good alternatives to KAT, where there is active community to verify torrents and provide feedback..

Top 10 Most Popular Torrent Sites of 2016 - TorrentFrea

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Extra Torrent still live and many software are still available with cracks and activator. Why Only Kickass owner arrested?????

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lailahussain655 said:
Extra Torrent still live and many software are still available with cracks and activator. Why Only Kickass owner arrested?????

Because he loved apple.

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Debasis said:
Because he loved apple.

That's good one...
& True fact..

Desmond David said:
I have an account on IPTorrents but no extra invites yet. Probably need to seed more.

The Give Invites to all Power Users Every month

Ironman said:
The Give Invites to all Power Users Every month

I don't qualify. I have 8 torrents that require seeding.

Only KAT mirrors are available. Nothing new are added.

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You should check this site daily for open registration and invites.

Opentrackers.org - Private Torrent Trackers & File Sharin

KickassTorrents is back thanks to original KAT staff | VentureBeat | Media | by Emil Protalinsk

Looks down from here