A man convicted of laundering more than €900,000 arising from the operation of an illegal “dodgy box” television streaming subscription service has been remanded in custody pending his sentencing.
Ciaran Donovan (42), from Ashfield, Co Kildare, appeared before Judge Martina Baxter at a sitting of Naas Circuit Court on Friday, having previously pleaded guilty to three charges of money laundering, arising from his selling of subscriptions linked to the King Kong Media illegal streaming service.
The court previously heard that thousands of users of the service had access to copyrighted Sky Sports, BT Sports and other subscription television services. The court heard that users of the service engaged in downloading an app, before purchasing codes by means of a yearly €70 subscription to gain access to the various television services.
[ Man charged with laundering €430,000 in ‘dodgy box’ service operationOpens in new window ]
Donovan pleaded guilty to a charge of money laundering last July, arising from his selling of an app linked to King Kong Media between January 2016 and March 2022.
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Naas Circuit Court had heard that bank accounts linked to Donovan’s operation saw a total of €470,511 pass through them. The loss to Sky from the customers involved was estimated at more than €2 million.
Last month, he was sent forward to the Circuit Court for sentencing on signed guilty pleas to two further charges of money laundering, also arising from his operation of the illegal service between October 2021 and November 2023. The amount of money laundered through Donovan’s accounts, giving rise to the two further charges, was in excess of €430,000.
At Friday’s sentencing hearing, Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing BL, for the prosecution, told the court that the losses incurred by Sky from the two offences was estimated to be more than €4 million.
The court heard that an investigator for Sky was able to renew a subscription to King Kong Media in March 2023, confirming that the service was still in operation even after Donovan had made “full admissions” to his role in selling access to the service. The investigator was able to link the payment of this subscription renewal in March 2023 to Donovan, the court heard.
Judge Baxter previously remanded Donovan in custody in April. However, he was released on bail some weeks later to allow for him to shut down the app, after the court heard that the service was still operational, with thousands of users still availing of access to television streaming.
While on bail, he shut down the service in the presence of gardaí and representatives for Sky at Kildare Garda station.
Judge Baxter noted on Friday that Donovan had committed “serious offences”, and said the ongoing operation of the service after his admissions was an aggravating feature in the case.
Desmond Hayes BL, for Donovan, submitted in mitigation that his client had submitted early pleas of guilty to the three charges, wrote a letter to the court expressing remorse and had a child at home with special needs who is dependent on him.
A detective garda witness agreed with Mr Hayes that Donovan was “one of the middle men” in the illegal streaming operation. The garda was unable to say if more people within the State were engaged in operating the service.
Mr Hayes said that the period Donovan spent in custody while awaiting sentencing earlier this year was a “wake-up call” for his client, and a lesson to be law-abiding. The court heard that Mr Donovan had held various sales roles in the past, working for PayPal, Google and eBay.
Mr Hayes asked Judge Baxter to consider sentencing Donovan to community service.
The judge remanded Donovan in custody, pending his sentencing, listed for July 31st.
A previous sitting of Naas Circuit Court heard that when Donovan was before the courts for the non-payment of his TV licence, he took a selfie outside the courts which he posted with the words: “In court for not paying TV licence. How ironic. LOL” and “If only they knew”. The selfie was discovered on a phone seized by gardaí.
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