An American man accused of stealing net address at $ 9 million

An American has been accused by US prosecutors of stealing network addresses worth more than $ 9 million.

Amir Golestan, from South Carolina, allegedly cheated an organization that controls certain Internet addresses by handing them over to them.

In total, Mr. Golestan took control of more than 750,000 addresses.

The addresses are valuable because the large reserve of them used since the beginning of the network is about to be exhausted.

Collapse case

The US Department of Justice claims that Mr. Golestan "fraudulently" obtained control of Internet addresses using many screen companies.

He alleges that he created websites for fake companies and invented the names of people who allegedly exploited them as part of his scheme.

Golestan has been charged with 20 counts of wire fraud in an American court this week. He has not yet responded to a request for comment from the BBC.

The Internet addresses were given to Mr. Golestan by the US registry of Internet numbers (Arin), one of the regional administrators who distribute the few remaining addresses. It is claimed that they were subsequently resold, which allowed him to earn money.

In a statement, Arin said that he had opened a separate investigation into Mr. Golestan after he was mistaken for paper by claiming a block of addresses.

Mr. Golestan filed a lawsuit when Arin refused to transfer control of the addresses. Arin says that the day before the trial, Mr. Golestan decided not to testify and invoked the fifth amendment of the US Constitution.

Among other things, this broad amendment gives the accused the right to refuse to answer questions that incriminate them.

The collapse of this case resulted in an FBI investigation of Mr. Golestan, who was charged by federal prosecutors with the alleged theft of $ 9 million.

He also gave Arin the power to take over Internet addresses controlled by Mr. Golestan. He must also pay his expenses of $ 350,000.