Megaupload programmer sentenced to year in prison

An Estonian computer programmer pleaded guilty on Friday to helping build Megaupload and conspiring to violate vast numbers of copyright licenses.

Andrus Nomm, 36, admitted to helping run the website as a forum for pirated movies, music and other content, in the process doing more than $400 million of damage to the companies that created them.

{mosads}The company behind Megaupload, Mega Conspiracy, also obtained at least $175 million through the efforts, Nomm admitted.

“This conviction is a significant step forward in the largest criminal copyright case in U.S. history,” Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said in a statement. “We intend to see to it that all those responsible are held accountable for illegally enriching themselves by stealing the creative work of U.S. artists and creators.”

From 2007 until his arrest in 2012, Nomm worked as a programmer with Mega Conspiracy and personally downloaded a number of files from Megaupload and similar websites.

At its peak, Megaupload accounted for 4 percent of all Internet traffic, with more than 50 million visitors per day.

Four of the people charged alongside Nomm — including Kim Dotcom, the founder of Megaupload — have fled the country. An extradition hearing for them is scheduled for June in Auckland, New Zealand.

Two other people charged in the case remain at large.

“We continue to pursue his co-conspirators until they face justice in the American legal system,” Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s assistant director of the case, said in a statement.