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torrentfreak.com/imagine ··· -130103/The former leader of a now-defunct online movie piracy group has been handed a record-breaking prison sentence in the United States today and ordered to pay $15,000 restitution. Jeramiah Perkins was described as the sysop of the BitTorrent release group IMAGiNE, a group that was busted by the FBI in 2011 following an MPAA investigation. Perkins will now serve five years in a federal prison, the longest sentence ever handed out in a case of this type. After his imprisonment ends Perkins will be subjected to a further three years of supervised release and will be banned from possessing any electronic device with the capability or reproducing and distributing copies of copyrighted materials.
In November 2012, Sean Lovelady of California, a moderator with the group, received a 23 month sentence. In the same month Willie Lambert of Pennsylvania, an administrator, received a 30 month prison sentence. An even tougher sentence was handed to 53-year-old group sysop Gregory Cherwonik of New York. He was jailed for 40 months by Virginia District Court Judge Arenda Allen and ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution to the MPAA. IMAGiNE member, Brad Newell who cammed movies for the group, received a sentence of 48 months in 2010.
This group got hammered big time.