Fraudster jailed for illegal Sky TV football website

Kevin Broughton developed and ran a subscription site from his home in Tummon Road, Sheffield, charging an estimated 10,000 customers up to £29.99 a season to watch Premiership football matches.

The 30-year-old was actually illegally relaying matches that were being broadcast by satellite TV company Sky and his operation breached Sky’s exclusive rights to show the games.

FA Premier League officials lodged a complaint about the website with the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) in January 2012.

An investigation concluded that he provided false identity details to Sky and took out a number of subscriptions with the intention of infringing the company’s intellectual property rights.

Kevin Broughton was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court this week, having pleaded guilty to offences of fraud at a hearing in September.

Financial investigators from the East Midlands Regional Asset Recovery Team (EMRART) found evidence that subscriptions to the site had yielded more than £500,000 between early 2010 and August 2012.

Kieron Sharp, FACT Director General, said: “This case conclusively shows that criminals are moving online to run sophisticated and profitable illegal operations. We continue to work to protect our members’ intellectual property and ensure that they can continue to invest in exciting new ways to watch sports, films and television programmes.”

Following sentence, the EMRART will be taking action to recover the assets that Broughton accumulated through his criminal activity.

Investigator Rachel Haywood said: “Broughton quickly developed the size and sophistication of the website, increasing his customer profile and making vast sums of money. He was able to deposit tens of thousands of pounds into an overseas bank account and set up an offshore company registered in Belize, intended to launder his proceeds.”