The ‘main actor’ in a multi-million pound fraud operation selling illegal streams of Premier League matches was pictured sitting in his pajamas as investigators raided his home.
Mark Gould, 36, can be seen sitting in his pajama bottoms surrounded by crunchy packets, shisha pipes and cardboard boxes as investigators searched his south London flat in May 2018.
Bodycam footage also shows about 30 linked decoders used for the illegal operation piled up in Gould’s home.
It comes as five men, including Gould, have been sentenced to more than 30 years in prison after the Premier League launched a landmark private prosecution to crack down on privacy and illegal streaming.
The people involved, aged between 30 and 46, operated one of the UK’s largest illicit streaming services and earned millions of pounds selling TV sticks to more than 50,000 customers and resellers, allowing them to illegally access streams to watch most, if not all, of the world’s most important sporting events.
Mark Gould (pictured), 36, can be seen sitting in his pajama bottoms surrounded by crunchy packets, shisha pipes and cardboard boxes in May 2018 as investigators search his south London home
Bodycam footage also shows around 30 linked set-top boxes used for the illegal operation piled up in Gould’s home
Trading standards investigator Doug Love led a raid on Gould’s stylish riverside flat in Greenwich, south London, in 2018.
He said BBC News: ‘I don’t think any of us realized how big it was. When we entered the guest room, there were 20 or 30 decoders linked together.
The gang took feeds from broadcasters in the UK, Qatar, US, Australia and Canada and released them seconds later via the Flawless service.
In what is the world’s largest lawsuit against an illegal streaming network, the five men were sentenced at the Chesterfield Justice Center on Tuesday, after being found guilty of conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and contempt to the court.
Between them, Mark Gould, 36, Steven Gordon, 46, Peter Jolley, 41, Christopher Felvus, 36, William Brown, 33 and Zak Smith, 30, generated more than £7million between 2016 and 2021 thanks to three pirate streaming organizations that offered illegal access to content, including live Premier League matches.
Gould, who was described by Judge Martin Hurst as the “main driving force” in the operation, was sentenced to 11 years in prison while Gordon, Jolley, Felvus and Brown were all sentenced to terms ranging from three to six years.
The gang took feeds from broadcasters in the UK, Qatar, US, Australia and Canada and released them seconds later via the Flawless service.
Between them, Mark Gould, 36, Steven Gordon, 46, Peter Jolley, 41, Christopher Felvus, 36, William Brown, 33 and Zak Smith, 30, generated more than £7million.
Smith, who acted like a mole selling information obtained through his employment with an online surveillance and enforcement agency, remains at large and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
In handing down his sentence, Judge Hurst explained how the group charged £10 a month for the service.
A similar subscription with Sky Sports and BT Sports – the current holders of Premier League rights in the UK – would cost between £60 and £80 a month.
In handing down the sentences, the judge described a sophisticated offense involving significant planning and expertise, which involved the hacking of legitimate customers in the UK and overseas.
The Flawless 1 gang company, which operated between 2016 and 2018, was at the time the largest illegal IPTV service in the UK, providing over 300 channels with 24/7 customer service for £10 per month.
It is estimated that he had 50,000 customers, including a network of reseller businesses (who provided the services for £6 a month) and made £4.6m in just under two years, of which Gould took over £1.7million.
The Flawless on-screen menu, showing matches available on the illegal streaming service
Not all games are televised in the UK and some fans are looking for alternative illegal sources
In 2018, an independent service known as ‘Optimal’ was launched by Gordon and Jolley after a pay dispute between Gordon and Gould, but it ultimately failed due to the service being sabotaged by Gould and Brown by infecting his servers with malware.
Flawless 2, also known as “Shared VPS”, was later launched by Gould, Felvus and Brown after Gould’s initial arrest and grossed £2.6m between May 2018 and July 2021.
Significant steps have been taken by the trio to cover up the service, with Brown employed to fulfill a range of roles, including helping Flawless avoid detection by authorities, hacking into broadcasters and their legitimate subscribers, as well as stealing content from services illegal rivals.
The shared VPS was discovered after Birmingham Trading Standards arrested one of the main dealers Flawless, following an investigation by the Premier League & FACT.
Evidence has been identified of payments made to a PayPal account in the name of Shared-VPS, before they switched to bitcoin.
The group charged customers £10 a month for the service, while a similar subscription with Sky Sports and BT Sports in the UK would cost between £60 and £80 a month.
This account was linked to Gould because investigations, among other things, showed that the account was used to order take-out food and electrical appliances from Gould’s home address.
The investigation and prosecution has been led by the Premier League and supported by intellectual property protection organization FACT and Hammersmith and Fulham Trading Standards, who carried out a series of raids and arrests at eight addresses across the country in 2018.
Evidence seized from Felvus’s computers also established that he was in possession of indecent images of children, leading to a separate lawsuit.
In January 2021, he pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing an indecent photograph of a child and committing 13 acts of voyeurism for which he received a custodial sentence and was listed on the sex offender registry for 10 years.
Premier League General Counsel Kevin Plumb said: “Today’s conviction is the result of a long and complex pursuit of a highly sophisticated operation.
“The sentences handed down, which are the longest sentences ever handed down for crimes related to piracy, vindicate the efforts to bring these people to justice and reflect the gravity and scale of the crimes.”
