Music producer Swizz Beatz, who is married to musician Alicia Keys, is on the run from federal prosecutors, according to the Associated Press. Beatz, real name Kasseem Dean, 33, is listed as the CEO on the website of the Hong Kong-based file sharing website, Megaupload.com, which was shut down by feds today.
The indictment accuses the company of costing copyright holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. The indictment was unsealed Thursday, one day after websites shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to thwart the online piracy of copyrighted movies and TV programs.
Yesterday, Swizz Beatz was unmasked as the CEO/owner of the world’s largest file sharing website by the NY Post, which alleged that Beatz got some of his celebrity friends to appear in a star-studded promotional vehicle for Megaupload.com.
High powered celebrities such as Sean “Diddy” Combs, Kanye West, Floyd Mayweather, Serena Williams and others are seen happily promoting the illegal service in the video.
But after the video appeared on YouTube last month, Universal Music Group, issued a DMCA “take-down notice” to YouTube, saying the artists’ performances were unauthorized.
Megaupload reps countersued Universal claiming to have “legally binding agreements with the performers that appear in the video…”
