A Minnesota lawyer who has drawn scorn for his tactics in filing porn copyright lawsuits and disability litigation has been indicted alongside a longtime partner in a multimillion-fraud and extortion conspiracy that counted as its victims hundreds of people nationwide and the court system itself. Paul Hansmeier and John L. Steele collected about $6 million from legal settlements in copyright-infringement lawsuits they had filed against people who allegedly downloaded pornographic movies online -- films to which the men’s companies had ostensibly purchased or filed copyrights, the indictment says.
- Read the article: Star Tribune
