Two brothers indicted for operating illegal sports streaming service that netted $7 million

The administrators behind illegal sports streaming site 247TVStream were charged this week by the Justice Department after one of the men was arrested in New York. 

An indictment unsealed Tuesday charged Noor Nabi Chowdhury, 56, of Cheektowaga, New York, and his brother, Mohammad Rahman, 36, of Dhaka, Bangladesh with several crimes related to their management of 247TVStream — an online subscription-based service that let users stream live sports and television shows.

The pair allegedly made more than $7 million from the platform. Chowdhury was arrested on Tuesday after a federal grand jury returned an indictment on November 15 charging both men with conspiracy to provide to the public an illicit digital transmission service; providing an illicit digital transmission service; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; and aggravated identity theft.

Chowdhury appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York on Tuesday and an arrest warrant has been issued for Rahman, who has not been located. Chowdhury and Rahman are facing up to 28 years in prison each for the charges. 

The two ran the site from May 2017 to November 2024, charging users $10 per month to subscribe to the platform. They obtained the streams by purchasing legitimate accounts themselves and then relaying it to their users. 

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, claimed 247TVStream caused losses of more than $100 million from the legitimate copyright owners but did not explain how they came to that number. 

“As alleged, the defendants operated a bootleg online streaming service that distributed copyrighted television programs that they stole for their personal enrichment,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York. 

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge William Walker added that the two also “stole an unsuspecting victim’s identity to exploit major American businesses, in pursuit of illicit wealth.”

In addition to the indictment and arrest, HSI also seized the domain names the two used to run 247TVStream. U.S. agencies also worked with officials in the Netherlands and U.K. to shut down other servers hosting infrastructure used to run 247TVStream. The website now shows a law enforcement banner. 

The five victims listed in the indictment are streaming providers. In recent years, content providers and sports leagues have worked with the Justice Department and other countries to shut down illegal streaming sites. 

In June, the DOJ charged five men for their role in running a subscription-based streaming service known as Jetflicks. At least one of the men was convicted last Friday. 

The operator behind another illegal sports streaming site, HeHeStreams, was charged in 2021 while German officials took down one of the most popular illegal movie streaming sites earlier this year.