LokiTorrent MPAA takedown may have been a hoax

Avid readers of Geek.com are aware of the MPAA’s recent crackdown on BitTorrent-based P2P file-sharing sites. Many sites like SuprNova.org were shut down, but one site remained: LokiTorrent.com. Vowing to fight the MPAA with its own set of lawyers–financed by donations from LokiTorrent users–LokiTorrent collected nearly US$40,000 before finally going under (see our coverage) … or did it?

An independent investigation headed up by Earth Reactor indicates that the whole thing might actually have been a hoax from the beginning, and the owner of LokiTorrent absconded with the donations after faking an MPAA shutdown of his site. If Earth Reactor is right, LokiTorrent wasn’t sued by the MPAA at all, and P2P file-sharers have been scammed out of their $40,000.

The evidence used to come to this conclusion is somewhat conjectural, but the main facts are difficult to dispute. Apparently, no lawsuit has been filed by the MPAA in court against LokiTorrent.com. The domain is still owned by Ed Webber, the owner of the site. The server is still in operation at a non-MPAA IP address. Lastly, Webber himself appears to have settled with various music and media companies outside of court before he started collecting donations.