Businessman who made €900k from operating illegal ‘dodgy box’ TV service back behind bars

Ciaran Donovan (42), a married father of four from Ashfield, Kildare Town, Co Kildare, pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing the proceeds of crime contrary to the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act 2010.

Donovan, who now works in a car valeting business, operated King Kong Media which charged customers for codes to illegally access TV streaming services from an app they downloaded through social media.

The “dodgy box” scheme allowed thousands of customers in Ireland to illegally access subscription sports and movie channels.

At a sentencing hearing at Naas Circuit Criminal Court on Friday, Judge Martina Baxter ordered that Donovan should be placed in custody before she would issue her ruling in the case at the end of the month.

In May, the court heard that the illegal TV streaming service had been shut down after Donovan had been released from custody to arrange its closure.

A Garda witness confirmed that Donovan had fulfilled his commitment to meet a representative of Sky TV and a member of An Garda Síochána to hand over details of certain codes and web addresses.

He was also required to put a notice on Telegram and other social media platforms that the service had been cut off.

The app which provided an illegal streaming service allowed viewers to access subscription TV channels from around the world including Sky Sports and BT Sports for an annual fee of around €70.

Counsel for the DPP, Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing BL said that the illegal service operated by the accused had cost the operators of pay TV channels potentially €4.38 million in lost revenue.

Donovan had previously given an undertaking last January to close down the illegal operation as part of his bail conditions but the service was still operating when he appeared in court on May 10, 2024.

The accused spent six weeks in prison earlier this year pending the finalisation of sentencing for a single charge of possessing of €470,511 which had passed through bank accounts linked to his operation of King Kong Media between January 2016 and March 2022.

He subsequently appeared before Naas District Court on a second set of similar charges in June which were transferred to the Circuit Court.

Donovan pleaded guilty to two other counts of possessing the proceeds of crime acquired from the operation of an illegal TV streaming service.

They related to €239,989 in a Bank of Ireland account in O’Connell Street, Dublin between October 5, 2021 and November 14, 2023 as well as €191,009 transferred to a Stripe account between the same dates.

Judge noted that the two offences had occurred when Donovan was out on bail on the earlier charge which would result in any sentences being consecutive.

Donovan claimed to have had around 3,500 paying customers for his illegal service, although there was no way of tracking if they had taken out monthly or annual subscriptions.

The accused has 41 previous convictions for a range of offences including public order, theft and road traffic offences as well as for the non-payment of a TV licence.

The court heard that a member of Sky TV’s anti-piracy unit had renewed an annual subscription with King Kong Media in March 2022 and March 2023 with the payments traced to Donovan.

Cross-examined by defence counsel, Desmond Hayes BL, a Garda witness accepted that Donovan was a “middleman” in the operation of the illegal streaming service.

Mr Hayes acknowledged that his client had failed to demonstrate insight and remorse in an earlier letter provided to the court.

However, the barrister said Donovan’s previous time spent in prison had given him “a wake-up call and a lesson to be law-abiding.”

Mr Hayes said the accused accepted his offending was wrong and that he had placed a number of parties “in jeopardy,” including Sky TV and his own family.

Asking the judge to consider giving Donovan a fully suspended sentence, counsel pointed out that one of Donovan’s young children was a five-year-old with special needs.

Remanding Donovan back in custody until July 31 to finalise sentencing, Judge Baxter said the accused had engaged in serious offending which had still been ongoing during an earlier part of the case.