Two arrested in Egypt as authorities take down Streameast sports piracy platform

The popular Streameast illegal sports streaming site was taken down on Wednesday as officials in Egypt arrested two men allegedly involved in the effort. 

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) said it worked with Egyptian authorities to shut down the piracy network — which had more than 80 associated domains and logged more than 1.6 billion visits over the past year.

ACE called Streameast the largest illicit live sports streaming operation in the world — giving people free access to nearly all games from the NFL, NBA, European football and several other sports leagues since 2018. 

Charles Rivkin, chairman of ACE and CEO of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), hailed the takedown as a resounding victory in the fight to “detect, deter, and dismantle criminal perpetrators of digital piracy.”

“With this landmark action, we have put more points on the board for sports leagues, entertainment companies, and fans worldwide — and our global alliance will stay on the field as long as it takes to identify and target the biggest piracy rings across the globe,” Rivkin said in a statement. 

The Athletic reported that ACE — which represents media giants like Warner Bros., Amazon, Netflix, Paramount and Apple — worked with Egyptian law enforcement on a raid that took place on August 24. Two men were arrested at a home in El-Sheikh Zaid, about 20 miles outside of Cairo. 

Laptops, smartphones and cash were seized, according to The Athletic, which noted that law enforcement found evidence indicating the people behind Streameast had a UAE-based shell company that allowed them to launder more than $6 million in advertising revenue from the illegal sites.

Cryptocurrency and documents tying the two to multiple properties in Egypt reportedly were discovered during the raid.

Streameast was one of several online piracy platforms sports-watchers accessed to circumvent costly subscriptions. Even some prominent athletes have been seen using it over the years. 

ACE noted that much of the site’s traffic came from the U.S., Canada, U.K., Philippines and Germany. 

Ed McCarthy, COO of  DAZN Group — known primarily for streaming boxing and mixed martial-arts events — said the takedown was a victory for anyone who invests in and relies on the live sports ecosystem.

“This criminal operation was siphoning value from sports at every level and putting fans across the world at risk. We commend the Egyptian authorities and ACE for their action in bringing down the world’s largest illegal sports streaming operation,” he said. 

In recent years, law enforcement has taken a tougher stance on illegal streaming platforms, shutting down multiple sites and arresting dozens for their role in the lucrative piracy industry. 

A federal jury slapped five men from Nevada with varying sentences in July for their roles in running Jetflicks, one of the largest illegal TV streaming services to be taken down by law enforcement.

The FBI took down multiple websites used by gamers to illegally download popular titles for platforms like Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in July.

Two brothers were indicted in November for running illegal sports streaming site 247TVStream. The operator behind another illegal sports streaming site, HeHeStreams, was charged in 2021.  German officials took down one of the most popular illegal movie streaming sites last year.

Despite the takedowns and arrests, piracy sites are still flourishing. Many of the domains associated with Streameast were down as of Wednesday afternoon, but several people on social media said clones of the platform — known as “mirrors” — were already available. 

Cybersecurity firm Silent Push also published a lengthy report on Wednesday uncovering a massive Internet Protocol Television (IPTV)-based piracy network that has been active for several years and appears to be based out of Afghanistan.