A federal grand jury in Brooklyn handed up an indictment last week charging two brothers — one in New York and the other in Bangladesh — with running an allegedly illegal sports and video streaming service known as 247TVStream.
Noor Nabi Chaudhary, 56, of Cheektowaga, New York, and his younger brother, Mohammad Rehman, 36, of Dhaka, Bangladesh, operated the low-cost streaming service from May 2017 to November 2024, authorities allege. Authorities alleged that under the alleged scheme, the brothers posed as regular customers of at least four separate streaming services in order to obtain legitimate subscriptions to at least four content providers. They then allegedly rebroadcast live sports programs along with dramas, children’s TV and cooking shows, including MLB, NBA, NHL games and rodeo events, according to Web of Streamers. The site shows.
Authorities allege that Chaudhary and Rahama collected more than $7 million to operate the illegal streaming service and caused more than $100 million in losses to legitimate streaming service and content owners.
“As alleged, the defendants operated a bootleg online streaming service that distributed copyrighted television programs they stole for their own personal enrichment,” the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Brion Pace said. “My office and the Department of Justice are committed to protecting the rights of intellectual property owners from digital pirates like these defendants.”
To get games and TV shows in front of viewers, Chowdhury and Rahman created multiple websites for subscribers to get content and developed an Apple application called “247 IPTV Player”. He also rented server space to host streaming content and created shell companies to hide his operations and use merchants to take credit cards and electronic payments, court documents show. The scheme ran for years and both collected millions in subscriber fees. Chaudhary and Rahman are charged with criminal conspiracy, illegal digital transmission services, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Chaudhary was arrested on Tuesday and appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York for arraignment this afternoon. Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Rahman, who remains at large. The government is looking for illegal proceeds and property related to copyright infringement.
“According to the indictment, Chaudhry and Rahman operated an illegal digital streaming site that stole more than $100 million in intellectual property owned by legitimate copyright owners,” said Justice Department Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri. violated.” Criminal Division. “Thanks to our prosecutors’ work with our local and international law enforcement partners, the illegal digital streaming site no longer exists, and Chaudhary is in custody. These actions strongly enforce laws against illegal digital transmission services.” demonstrates the Criminal Division’s commitment to protecting intellectual property rights by enforcing
Online reviews of the streaming site are overwhelmingly negative, with a rating of 1.3 out of five stars. Users complained about buffering and lack of customer service.
“Will freeze the stream mid game and good luck getting it back. Annoying, wrote Mary B in October 2024. And their new steaming box is worse than steaming from a computer. Just a complete crap site.”
