Ciaran Donovan, a 42-year-old man from Ashfield, Kildare, is awaiting sentencing in custody after being convicted of laundering over €900,000, which he amassed from an illegal subscription service for TV streaming known as a “dodgy box”. He had already admitted guilt to three counts of money laundering at Naas Circuit Court before Judge Martina Baxter, with the charges tied to his sale of an application that provided access to the illicit streaming platform, King Kong Media, from January 2016 to March 2022.
The service had thousands of users who illegally accessed copyrighted content from pay TV providers including Sky Sports and BT Sports. Donovan’s operation, it was revealed, had over €470,000 transacted through its linked bank accounts. The damage to Sky from these transactions was assessed to be beyond €2 million.
Donovan was referred to the Circuit Court last month to receive his sentencing for two additional money laundering charges, which also came about from managing the unlawful TV streaming service between October 2021 and November 2023. The total cash laundered through Donovan’s accounts relevant to these further charges was more than €430,000.
Meanwhile, Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing BL, representing the prosecution, disclosed to the court that Sky’s losses from this duo of offences tallied up to over €4 million. Despite Donovan’s full acknowledgment of his part in granting access to the service, it was still active as of March 2023. This was established as true when Damien Gilmore, an investigator for Sky, was able to renew his subscription to King Kong Media in that month. The court learned that the payment for this renewal was traced back to Donovan.
The revocation of the “dubious box” television platform was reported in court as the man at the helm, released on bail, terminated the service. Earlier this year, Judge Baxter had ordered the man, Donovan, into detention; his release on bail several weeks later was to facilitate the cessation of the streaming service application. The court was notified that despite Donovan’s incarceration, the service had continued to be accessible, with a substantial number of users still utilising it.
Citing Donovan’s serious infractions, Judge Baxter, on a recent Friday, emphasised the persistence of the service following his confessions, as a regrettable factor in the proceeding. Desmond Hayes BL, in defence of Donovan, argued in extenuation that his client had promptly confessed guilty to the trio of charges. He underscored that Donovan had written a regretful letter to the court and was the primary caretaker to his special-needs child at home.
Hayes explained that the time Donovan served in jail before his preliminary sentencing this year was a sobering experience and a deterrent to any unlawful conduct in the future. He noted that Donovan had held a variety of sales positions in notable corporations such as PayPal, Google, and eBay. Hayes asked Judge Baxter to ponder over sentencing Donovan to community service instead of jail.
Pending his final sentencing slated for July 31st, Judge Baxter held Donovan in detention. It was previously reported in Naas Circuit Court that while facing prosecution for not paying his TV licence, Donovan had taken a snapshot of himself outside the courts, captioned it “In court for non-payment of TV licence. How ironic. LOL” and “If only they knew”, and posted it – a selfie discovered on a phone taken by the police.