Android pirates who distributed 4 million apps plead guilty

When the FBI shut down a trio of illegal Android app marketplaces in 2012, they were the first website seizures of their kind. Now, the individuals behind these sites have admitted to their misdeeds. Aaron Blake Buckley, 22, plead guilty to criminal copyright infringement (and conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement) for his role running Applanet, reports the Department of Justice. Buckley's plea follows that of 29-year-old Gary Edwin Sharp's this January, who ran SnappzMarket, also seized in 2012.

According to the Department of Justice, from May 2010 through August 2012, Sharp and Buckley "conspired to reproduce and distribute more than 4 million copies of copyrighted Android apps [...] without permission from the victim copyright owners." The DoJ clams these app had a total retail value of $17 million. Separately, Sharp also plead guilty to conspiring to "distribute more than one million pirated copies of copyrighted Android apps with a total retail value of more than $1.7 million" through SnappzMarket. Both men will be sentenced on August 1st.

• ViaEngadget
• SourceDepartment of Justice