'Porn troll' suits were a shakedown, U.S. attorney says
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Two notorious attorneys accused of being "porn trolls" are facing an 18-count fraud indictment.
U.S. Attorney Andy Luger on Friday announced the charges, which say John Steele and Paul Hansmeier filed copyright infringement lawsuits against people who downloaded pornographic movies from online sites.
The pair made around $6 million settling the suits, according to charges.
Luger said the lawyers falsely claimed to represent the companies who held the copyrights on the movies.
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However, Luger said, the lawyers either held the copyrights themselves or they made the films and placed them on sites where people could download them for free.
"The lawyers were effectively the clients," he said, "and the lawyers had concocted the facts that gave rise to the very lawsuits they filed. Lawsuits that were nothing more than a shakedown."
Both men are in custody, Luger said. An attempt to reach the two for comment was unsuccessful.
Hansmeier was suspended from practicing in September after having built a career on suing people for downloading porn online.