KickassTorrents domains seized, alleged owner arrested

The assumed owner of internet’s biggest piracy network has been arrested, charged with criminal copyright infringement and money laundering.

30-year-old Ukrainian national Artem Vaulin, who ostensibly owns the world's largest torrent site Kickass Torrents, was arrested in Poland, and the US has requested his extradition.

A federal court in Chicago has ordered the seizure of Kickass Torrent domain names, in an attempt to close the site down.

In a criminal complaint filed in US District Court in Chicago , Vaulin has been charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of criminal copyright infringement.

Kickass Torrents is a commercial site that enables users to illegally reproduce and distribute hundreds of millions of copyrighted motion pictures, video games, television programs, musical recordings and other electronic media since 2008.

With millions of unique visitors per day, it is now one of the most-used BitTorrent portals online - even bigger than The Pirate Bay .