{"id":70847,"date":"2023-01-31T09:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T09:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=70847"},"modified":"2023-01-31T09:01:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T09:01:00","slug":"pirate-iptv-owners-liable-for-100m-in-damages-fight-house-seizure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=70847","title":{"rendered":"Pirate IPTV Owners Liable For $100m in Damages Fight House Seizure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"iptv\"<\/a>After being sued by DISH Network in 2021, former Nitro TV operators Alex Galindo, Anna Galindo, Martha Galindo, and Osvaldo Galindo, made no real attempt to fight the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Why that decision was taken is still unknown, but court records suggest that throwing money away on a case that couldn\u2019t be won might be one of the possibilities. The downside is that the plaintiffs went completely unchallenged, including when they requested and received a damages award in excess of $100 million last June<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cash Disappeared, House Remained<\/h2>\n

After receiving the green light, DISH began searching for the defendants\u2019 assets, including more than $10 million generated by the Nitro TV service. <\/p>\n

Four banks that had received deposits of more than $9 million complied with disclosure requests; two reported no active accounts, one confirmed a $49.00 balance, and the final account was in the red. <\/p>\n

Finding the cupboard bare, DISH moved in on the defendants\u2019 house in Friendswood, Texas.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

Since the property might qualify for homestead protection, DISH presented evidence to the court to show that Nitro TV subscription revenue was used to pay for the house. With the defendants entirely absent from the legal process, the court ordered the United States Marshal Service<\/a> to levy and sell the property.<\/p>\n

Out of nowhere, the defendants suddenly decided that wasn\u2019t going to happen.<\/p>\n

The House is Off Limits<\/h2>\n

In a motion to alter or amend the judgment \u201cto prevent a clear error or manifest injustice,\u201d counsel for Alex Galindo explained that his client bought the house in Friendswood in March 2020 and declared it his home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Texas Constitution provides special protections for the homestead separate and distinct from protections afforded other types of property,\u201d the motion reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause constitutional homestead rights protect citizens from losing their homes, statutes relating to homestead rights are liberally construed to protect the homestead.\u201d<\/p>\n

DISH evidence linked 99% of the house purchase price to sales of illegal IPTV subscriptions. The company argued that homestead protection is not available when a property is purchased with wrongfully acquired funds. <\/p>\n

To support that claim, DISH cited another case \u2013 Deluxe Barber School, LLC and Bonifice I. Mbaka<\/a><\/em> \u2013 but according to counsel for Galindo, an important detail means that his house still enjoys protection.<\/p>\n

No Money Was Stolen<\/h2>\n

In a nutshell, Deluxe Barber<\/em> involved a foreclosure on a property that was purchased with stolen cash. The strong suggestion here is that since the cash at issue in the Nitro case wasn\u2019t stolen and wasn\u2019t earned by DISH, Deluxe Barber<\/em> is unhelpful to the broadcaster.<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]hese funds were never possessed, or even earned, by the Plaintiffs. There is no evidence that such funds belonged to the Plaintiffs or that Defendants stole or wrongfully acquired funds directly from Plaintiffs,\u201d the motion reads.<\/p>\n

The 99% figure is also important, the motion adds. It argues that since the account used to buy the property contained personal funds and money \u201cpotentially earned\u201d from legitimate transactions, just one percent of legitimate funding would mean homestead rights under the Texas Constitution, especially since Texas courts \u201cliberally construe statutes\u201d relating to homestead rights.<\/p>\n

Predictably, DISH sees things quite differently.<\/p>\n

DISH: Don\u2019t Undo The Correct Decision<\/h2>\n

In calling for the motion to be dismissed, DISH cites the history of the lawsuit, using the Court\u2019s own words to state its position. The defendants operated an \u201cillegal streaming service called Nitro TV, through which the defendants pirated the plaintiffs\u2019 television programming and sold that content to Nitro TV\u2019s subscribers,\u201d the court\u2019s judgment reads.<\/p>\n

The Court also handed down a statutory damages award of $100,363,000 \u2013 the defendants didn\u2019t challenge the award in June 2022, and they aren\u2019t challenging it now, DISH adds. Furthermore, the defendants were served with a motion relating to the house in October 2022, and a month later after receiving no response, the Court found that the property does not warrant homestead protection.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefendants moved the Fifth Circuit to stay the sale of the Friendswood Property \u2013 making essentially the same arguments raised here \u2013 and that motion was denied,\u201d DISH notes.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefendants\u2019 motion for reconsideration should likewise be denied as there are no grounds warranting the extraordinary remedy of reconsideration and, even if reconsidered, the Court\u2019s Order allowing the sale of the Friendswood Property is supported by the undisputed facts and well-established Texas law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Money Wasn\u2019t Stolen But Fraud Works Too<\/h2>\n

Addressing Galindo\u2019s assertion that stolen money wasn\u2019t used to buy the house, DISH draws attention to \u201canalogous Florida laws\u201d where homestead protection did not apply because funds were \u201cfraudulently obtained.\u201d Furthermore, if the house was indeed a homestead, it wasn\u2019t designated as such for tax purposes.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefendants fail to show entitlement to the extraordinary remedy of reconsideration. Defendants\u2019 motion to alter or amend the Court\u2019s Order authorizing the U.S. Marshal to levy and sell the Friendswood Property and apply the proceeds towards the satisfaction of Plaintiffs\u2019 judgment should be denied in all respects,\u201d DISH concludes.<\/p>\n

Galindo\u2019s motion to alter\/amend and the DISH response can be found here (1<\/a>,2<\/a>,3<\/a> pdf)<\/em><\/p>\n

From: TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\n

Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After being sued by DISH Network in 2021, former Nitro TV operators Alex Galindo, Anna Galindo, Martha Galindo, and Osvaldo Galindo, made no real attempt to fight the lawsuit. Why that decision was taken is still unknown, but court records suggest that throwing money away on a case that couldn\u2019t be won might be one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torrent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}