A dad made a small fortune hawking dodgy firecrackers online to fund his gambling addiction.
Kevin O’Donnell, of Altcross Road, Croxteth, sold modified firesticks for the illegal transmission of subscription-based content between September 2020 and March 2023. He was caught after FACT, the anti-copyright theft federation, received information for the sale of equipment providing unauthorized access to premium sports, TV shows and movies belonging to Sky and BT.
On 3 May 2022, the organization began investigating a Facebook profile for “Kev O’James”, which advertised the sale of subscription packages of up to £85 on Amazon fire sticks, or remotely on smart devices. On the page it was written: “Don’t go with amateurs who have been selling for several months. Come with us, we have been selling for many years.”
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The Facebook account was linked to O’Donnell’s personal account and it was discovered that both accounts were operated by the same person.
FACT officers then instigated a test purchase from O’James’ account, paying £40 to a PayPal address for a 12-month subscription package. A buyout investigation confirmed the illegal streaming service allowed customers to access Sky and BT content.
In the six months between February and August 2022, FACT found that 574 transactions were made to the PayPal account, adding up to £136,000. A further inspection in July 2023 revealed that both Facebook accounts were still operating and still promoting the sale of suspicious fire sticks.
O’Donnell, 41, was arrested on July 4 and pleaded “sole responsibility for the offences”. He appeared at Liverpool Crown Court today, June 4, where he pleaded guilty to supplying articles for fraudulent use and providing a service designed to circumvent technological measures.
Prosecutor Kevin Liston said: “Quantifying loss is difficult and is based on averages. Sky estimates that, based on your average subscription cost in the period the breaches were taking place, the loss could be as much as £371,000. BT, using a similar approach, estimates that losses could have been as high as £471,000. Substantial losses were potentially caused by the undertaking.”
Kyra Badman, defending, said: “From the outset the defendant admitted his involvement. Its involvement is not as sophisticated as it may seem. He was buying fire sticks for £40 and making a little profit on it, and so the venture began.
“It is clearly accepted that he was motivated by financial gain, not in respect of any lavish lifestyle, but driven by his addictions at the time: alcohol, but mainly a heavy gambling addiction. These addictions were fueled by an emotional response to what was happening in his life at the time.
“His father passed away in September 2022, after suffering from cancer for two years. The defendant was extremely close to his father, worked with him every day of his life for 20 years, and the loss of his father had a significant impact on him. This meant he was more dependent on the measures he felt helped him, alcohol and the escape of gambling.”
She added that O’Donnell was the primary carer for his disabled five-year-old son.
The judge, Miss Recorder Michelle Brown, said: “This was offending which took place over a sustained period of time, three years. Your offending involved large sums of money, not only in terms of your potential gain but in terms of the potential loss of caused to the companies involved”.
She accepted that O’Donnell had failed to appreciate the seriousness of his crimes, his personal mitigation and a probation report, which placed him at low risk of reoffending in the future. She sentenced him to a total of two years in prison, suspended for two years.
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