Federal officials seize movie piracy websites in sweeping raid

Feds seize movie piracy websites in sweeping raid

LOS ANGELES — U.S. officials have announced a major crackdown on movie piracy that involved seizing several websites that were offering downloads of pirated movies just hours after they appeared in theaters.

In a move announced Wednesday, officials also seized assets from more than a dozen bank, investment and advertising accounts, and executed residential search warrants in several states.

Immigration officials worked with the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The raids were the first actions in a new initiative to combat Internet counterfeiting and piracy called “Operation In Our Sites.”

Websites that were seized include TVShack.net, PlanetMoviez.com, ThePirateCity.org and Movies-Links.TV.