Two men who supplied illegal access to live coverage of English Premier League football matches have been ordered to pay back nearly £1m (€1.1m/$1.3m) into the public purse.
Simon Hopkins and Leon Passlow of Berkshire in the UK were found to have defrauded pay-television broadcaster Sky, the primary domestic live rights-holder in the country.
Specialist officers from Surrey Police Force's Economic Crime Unit and the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) led the investigation.
Hopkins and Passlow operated a company called Digicam International, which obtained hundreds of domestic use-only Sky cards, using hundreds of fake names.
The cards were sold on to commercial premises, including pubs and betting outlets.
“The court has confiscated £992,000 of their criminal funds and the pair are already serving lengthy sentences in prison. This should serve as a strong warning that ultimately intellectual property crime does not pay,” FACT director general Kieron Sharp said.