The case against the Argentinian operator of Al Ángulo TV provides a welcome exception, with a rather unique plot twist.
With assistance from top-tier Spanish football league LaLiga, on August 20 Argentinian police arrested Alejo Warles. The authorities accused the 25-year-old, known online as Shishi, of running a piracy operation that had amassed millions of monthly users.
In this case, it wasn’t just the authorities and rightsholders who commented publicly. Friends and family came out in support of Shishi, launching a fundraiser for his defense.
Shishi’s attorney described the case as a “David versus Goliath” battle, a multinational company pitted against a young man with no prior criminal record, who lives with his grandparents.
Sharing a Cell with Murderers
While most pirate site operators prefer to stay off the radar following an arrest, Alejo Warles enjoys the opposite. He previously ran a YouTube channel and has been very active on social media recently, so this doesn’t really come as a surprise.
An excellent article by local news outlet El Entre Ríos, which deserves full credit, provides more detail about what happened after Warles’ arrest. Key commentary is provided by Warles himself.
Police started hammering on Warles’ door around 07:45 on the morning of August 20. After he was arrested and handcuffed, a lawyer from LaLiga bought Warles’ some yogurt before he was sent to the police station in Paraná.
The next day, Warles was transferred to the San Isidro Investigations headquarters with a police escort. “It was like they were bringing Pablo Escobar,” Warles notes, referring to the infamous drug lord.
The pirate site operator ended up in a cell with people accused of crimes that didn’t take place behind a keyboard. While that certainly made an impression, it wasn’t all that bad.
“I was there for a day and a half with murderers, thieves… But they were very kind to me. To cheer me up, they would say, ‘Another guy like you came in and got out after three hours’,” Warles said.
Bailed Out and Back Online
After three days in custody, on Friday August 22 Warles was released on bail. The criminal investigation remains ongoing, and it’s likely that Warles will still have to defend himself in court. But for now, he’s glad to have regained his freedom.
Interestingly, Warles was also free to pick up the X account of Al Ángulo TV, which had amassed thousands of new followers after his arrest.
“I’m not going to reoffend with the websites, but I will continue working on social media,” he told El Entre Ríos. “When the police arrested me, I had 123,000 followers, and today that number has reached more than 138,000.”
Seized Cryptocurrency
While Warles has control over his social media accounts, the authorities still have his cell phone, computer, and other seized hardware, which are likely to be used as evidence.
When LaLiga announced the crackdown in August, it mentioned that virtual wallets and cryptocurrencies were also seized. These were presumably used to collect advertising revenue for Al Ángulo TV.
Warles does not deny that he owned a crypto wallet. However, he notes that this was not a massive haul.
“They accused me of profiteering but couldn’t prove anything. There were $263 in my virtual wallet,” Warles notes, adding that cryptocurrency wallets are pretty common for today’s youth.
Tech Unicorn Hires Piracy ‘GOAT’
While being arrested for alleged crimes is a scary prospect for many, Warles appears to be holding up well. In fact, the exposure helped to land him a new job at professional esports team 9z Globant.
The team is the result of a partnership between 9z Team and Argentinian tech unicorn Globant. Somewhat ironically, Globant previously worked with LaLiga to monitor the live-streaming user experience.
Warles welcomed himself to 9z Globant via the team’s social media account, referring to himself as an idol, genius, and GOAT.
Lucía Quinteros, the main social media manager at the esports team, informed Entre Ríos that after considering their new hire’s history, they believe that he can add value to the team.
“We hired Alejo, not the person who set up that project (Al Ángulo TV). Of course, we evaluated what happened, but we believe that, from now on, Alejo can pursue a different career path,” Quinteros said.
According to Warles himself, he was hired because he’s the best. Like many of his comments, this bravado should not be taken too seriously, but nevertheless sits in stark contrast to the typical pirate site operator facing criminal charges.