68-year-old imprisoned after making $1.3 million by pirating IPTV services

A 68-year-old man in the United Kingdom has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for running an illegal IPTV service that brought in 980,812 pounds, or roughly $1.3 million, over three years. Milan Ibrahim was convicted following an investigation by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, or PIPCU, which is part of the City of London Police. The operation provided unauthorized broadcasts to customers in the UK and abroad, drawing on content owned by major rights holders such as the BBC, ITV, Sky, the Premier League, and the Motion Picture Association.

PIPCU said the business relied on 80 servers located at premises in Chorley, and that enforcement actions led to the seizure and shutdown of all of them. Authorities described the setup as sophisticated, and the shutdown significantly disrupted the service’s ability to deliver illegal streams to its users. The seizure may also allow investigators to identify people who used the service, and those users could face fines or other consequences for participating in copyright infringement.

Beyond the prison sentence, Ibrahim will be subject to Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings, which are designed to recover money earned through criminal activity. A director of CTU Systems, a now-dissolved company that marketed IPTV software, Ibrahim has not been linked by authorities to that firm in connection with the illegal service prosecuted in this case. The connection was noted in UK government records but was not part of the criminal action.

The case has drawn attention from sports and entertainment rights holders. Stefan Sergot, Director of Legal Enforcement at the Premier League, called the police operation significant and described the seized service as one of the UK’s most prominent and long-standing pirate suppliers. The Premier League was among the rights holders whose content was sold without authorization, and its enforcement director’s comments underscore the scale of the operation as seen by the industry.

The Federation Against Copyright Theft, or FACT, participated in the action, and BleepingComputer, which first reported the sentence, has reached out to both FACT and PIPCU for additional details. No further information about the service’s name or its full user base has been released. For US audiences, this case highlights the cross-border reach of illegal IPTV operations, which often sell access to American sports and entertainment content as part of their packages.

Authorities have not disclosed whether any users outside the UK have been identified or contacted, though the server seizures could open that door. The case also serves as an example of how law enforcement can dismantle such services by targeting the infrastructure rather than individual sellers. The investigation into Ibrahim’s finances and the broader scope of his operation remains ongoing, with the proceeds recovery process expected to follow the criminal sentence.

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