Cops demand more time in marathon OiNK investigation

BitTorrent admin probe continues

By Chris Williams • Get more from this author

Posted in Law, 6th May 2008 12:06 GMT

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Cleveland police have again extended the bail granted to Alan Ellis, the administrator of Oink.cd, an invitation-only BitTorrent tracker shut down in a high profile dawn raid last October.

The deadline for charges to be brought has been moved from today, 6 May, to 1 July. It will bring the total length of the probe to more than eight months and marks the third occasion in the case that investigators have demanded more time.

Ellis was arrested on 23 October 2007 on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and infringement of copyright law.

On the day of the raid, Cleveland Police said that Oink had made its operators "hundreds of thousands of pounds". A press statement claimed officers were already tracking down the cash from the site.

Oink did not charge users, but accepted donations for server costs. It focused on high quality and lossless music files. Some tracks were available via its trackers before the official launch date.

Ellis is unable to comment on his bail extension, on legal advice. ®

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