The suspects in the piracy ring. Photo courtesy of the Supreme People's Procuracy.

HÀ NỘI — The Supreme People’s Procuracy has issued an indictment charging seven suspects in connection with a large-scale pirate film-streaming operation that earned about VNĐ315.3 billion (US$12.85 million) in advertising revenue between 2019 and 2026.

The case centres on HiAnime, a streaming portal previously known as Zoro.to and Aniwatch that attracted more than 150 million monthly visits before shutting down without explanation in March. The indictment also names the Sflix/Myflixerz and 9animetv site groups as part of the same network. The seven will be tried by the Hà Nội People’s Court.

Four suspects face charges of infringement of copyright and related rights, and money laundering. They are Nguyễn Đình Minh Khoa, 38, Deputy General Director of Pixes Perfect Co Ltd; Nguyễn Trung Anh, 33, a programmer; Nguyễn Hoàng Thanh, 37, from Đại Mỗ Ward, Hà Nội; and Nguyễn Đình Xuân, 33, former Chief Accountant of Pixes Perfect.

Three others have been indicted for copyright infringement only: Doãn Thành Luân, 34, an employee of Pixes Perfect; Nguyễn Khương Duy, 34, a freelancer; and Nguyễn Phước Toàn, 36, from Hòa Sơn Commune, Đắk Lắk.

According to the indictment, Khoa observed in 2019 that many unlicensed streaming websites had inconvenient interfaces and conceived the idea of building easier-to-use pirate sites to profit from advertising. He approached Trung Anh, and the pair recruited Thanh and Xuân.

Khoa played the initiating role, personally buying more than 100 domain names through the Namecheap platform at 20 to 50 USDT (USD Tether, a cryptocurrency equivalent to the US dollar) per domain per year and carrying out search-engine optimisation to drive traffic. Trung Anh organised and managed the technical infrastructure, leasing servers and programming the website systems, while Xuân built the content-management system and Thanh handled design and payouts. Toàn was assigned to administer the Zoro, Aniwatch and HiAnime pages on Reddit; Luân led the film-copying team and produced subtitles; and Duy copied films from the internet and provided a Visa card and e-wallet to cover costs and receive advertising money.

Staff searched for, copied and downloaded films before uploading them to leased servers. Trung Anh rented servers from the hosting company Evoluso between 2019 and 2022, with the group’s storage relying on Cloudflare services from 2023 until March 2026. The operation cost about 70,000 USDT per month in server fees, equivalent to VNĐ1.68 billion ($67,200), plus around VNĐ1.3 billion ($52,000) a month in office costs and salaries.

From 2019 to 2026, the group illegally copied 26,000 television series and 7,500 animated films. Khoa dealt directly with the advertising platform PropellerAds via Skype and Telegram, obtaining advertising codes that triggered pop-up windows when users watched films. Payments depended on traffic volume, and the group received a total of 12.85 million USDT. Khoa personally received 2.5 million USDT from 2020 onwards, while Thanh collected 10.35 million USDT through Binance wallets from September 2023.

Investigators determined that Khoa, Trung Anh and Xuân each unlawfully profited by VNĐ50 billion ($2 million); Thanh by more than VNĐ51.3 billion ($2.05 million); Luân by more than VNĐ3.74 billion ($149,600); Duy by VNĐ1.77 billion ($70,800); and Toàn by more than VNĐ418 million ($16,720).

The sites repeatedly received DMCA copyright warnings from Google, but the suspects continually changed addresses to maintain streaming and advertising income. The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment and the Motion Picture Association, representing eight United States film studios, confirmed none had licensed the sites to copy or distribute protected works.

The money laundering charges concern how the proceeds were spent. The four main suspects allegedly moved the USDT through several wallets, sold it for đồng and transferred the funds to personal bank accounts before buying property and vehicles. Khoa spent more than VNĐ24.45 billion ($978,000) on two plots of land and a succession of cars, including a Porsche Panamera registered in his wife’s name, a Mercedes G63 and a Land Rover Autobiography bought earlier this year. Xuân spent VNĐ10.69 billion ($427,600) on a Mercedes GLS 450, a Mercedes C300 and an apartment in Hà Đông, Hà Nội. Thanh spent VNĐ7.65 billion ($306,000) on a house and vehicles.

From February this year, fearing detection, the suspects began covering their tracks. Trung Anh registered his Porsche in his sister’s name, while Xuân transferred a Mercedes to his father and then his sister and changed its number plate. By March, as authorities intensified the crackdown on copyright infringement, the group agreed to cease operations and delete the websites.

The case originated with a complaint filed with the Ministry of Public Security on May 7 by Rouse, the law firm representing the Motion Picture Association in Việt Nam. That was the same day a nationwide crackdown on pirate sites began following an urgent order from the Prime Minister. Four suspects were arrested in July.

The prosecution is being closely watched abroad. The United States Trade Representative opened a Section 301 investigation into Việt Nam’s copyright enforcement in May, with tariffs among the possible outcomes, and Việt Nam cited the HiAnime case in its response. The USTR has urged Việt Nam to impose deterrent-level prison sentences, after two operators of the Fmovies piracy ring received suspended sentences last year.

No trial date has been announced. Several individuals identified by investigators as salaried employees acting under instruction were not subject to criminal prosecution. — VNS