| There's a new internet marketing kid on the | | | | He calls himself the "1 Billion Software Pirate" in |
| block, and his name is Maksym Vysochanskyy, | | | | the promotional materials for Treasure Coach. |
| (or Maksym V for the spelling challenged). He has | | | | Evidently that number comes from the following |
| a new product, due for release on January 21, | | | | headline on a Thai newspaper following his arrest: |
| called Treasure Coach. He claims to have come | | | | "$1-billion 'Pirate' Held". But the accompanying story |
| up with a new online business model that nobody's | | | | says that he is accused of selling software worth |
| thought of before, and he wants to teach it to | | | | US $3 millon. So a billion seems to be a bit of |
| you. Who is this guy, and why should you listen to | | | | sensationalist exaggeration by the Thai press. |
| him? | | | | Even the $3 million figure is suspect: a 2006 |
| I wondered that myself when I first heard the | | | | report on his sentenciing, from Computerworld |
| buzz about this product. Here's what I've learned. | | | | magazine, quotes a US Attorney involved in the |
| Maksym (I'm really not on a first name basis with | | | | case as mentioning "more than US $20,000 sent |
| him, but his first name is a lot easier to type than | | | | to him via wire transfers to a bank account in |
| his last name) used to be a software pirate. Know | | | | Lithuania". I think it's safe to say that if Maksym |
| what that is? Basically, he sold illegal, bootlegged | | | | had sold anything even close to $3 million, the US |
| (or pirated) copies of software -- big-name | | | | Attorney would have mentioned that, rather than |
| software, from companies like Borland, Microsoft, | | | | a piddling $20 in wire transfers. |
| and Adobe. This is very common practice in some | | | | So what are we left with? A guy who sold |
| parts of the world, and apparently Maksym was | | | | enough illegal software online to get the attention |
| very, very good at it. | | | | of the US authorities, who kept him in prison for |
| So good that, in 2003, he was arrested while on | | | | a total of three years, and then sentenced him to |
| vacation in Thailand, after US Secret Service and | | | | the three years he had already served. Not |
| US Postal Inspection Service agents learned he | | | | exactly a billion dollar pirate, but still: the guy had a |
| would be there by monitoring his email. In 2004, | | | | successful -- if illegal -- online business model. |
| he was extradited to the US, where he was | | | | At any rate, the rest of the story is that after |
| eventually sentenced to 35 months in prison. | | | | his release from prison, Maksym decided to |
| Oddly, his sentencing didn't occur until May 2006... | | | | continue doing business online, but this time legally. |
| roughly 35 months after his arrest. His own | | | | He now claims to have come up with a new, |
| website states that he spent a year in Thai prison | | | | 100% legal, online business model that he can |
| and two years in US prison, and that he was | | | | teach to you, if you buy his product, Treasure |
| freed in May 2006, so the logical conclusion is that | | | | Coach. Will he be able to live up to that claim? |
| when his case was finally heard, he was | | | | Only time will tell. |
| sentenced to the time he had already served. | | | | |