YouTube star Omi In A Hell Cat was sentenced to serve five and a half years in prison and ordered by a judge to hand over $30 million in assets.
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On Tuesday, Bill Omar Carrasquillo, 36, was sentenced in court for an elaborate television piracy scheme. As part of his sentencing, a judge ordered he hands over more than $30 million in assets, which included $6 million in cash, his luxury car collection of Lamborghinis, Bentleys, and McLarens, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Carrasquillo must also hand over his properties in Philadelphia and other neighborhoods.
During the sentencing, Carrasquillo apologized to his family, friends, and the cable companies who were affected by his illegal business practices. “I really didn’t know the significance of this crime until I was picked up [by the FBI] at my home. I feel like I let everybody down,” he explained.
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Carrasquillo’s lawyer, Donte Mills, argued that his company, GearsTV, then named Gears Reloaded, had a legal grey area when it came to subscriptions as he paid for the subscriptions for the content he was accused of pirating.
“I found a loophole, I ran through it, and I did great. There are other colleagues in the same business I was in and they never got in trouble with the FBI. I didn’t know what was going on for two years. No answers, no, nothing. So finally, you know, I get to not be depressed, not be stressed out anymore. Now I’ll get my day in court.”
While running his business, Carrasquillo also amassed 800,000 subscribers on YouTube, where he discussed his lifestyle, including his luxury car collection. Although he pleaded guilty to the crimes last year, Carasquillo continued to upload content to Youtube. His last video, titled “TAKING DELIVERY OF A 2023 TRX RAM,” earned over 115,000 views.
His subscribers also left their well wishes after learning about his case and said they will still support his channel once he’s released. One user wrote, “Omi, I just wanna say that I been watching you for years and when you get out the pen I will still be here supporting you I started watching you when I was a freshman now I’m a senior I’m watch you and support you forever omi you a good person fr and prayers to you and even when you In there I will watch every video over and over my favorite YouTuber you always stayed positive when things was bad I’m still always watch you.”
“Sad and sickening reading these comments. All you people celebrating a mans downfall. He wasnt hurting nobody. These companies make millions off average citizens and tax like crazy. Omi just found a loophole and exploited it to profit. Dont hate the player. Not saying its ok to just go out and “Scam” Im just speaking on how yall acting like the man ruined familys. If anything, he helped millions of familys by getting them cable tv and premiums for discounted prices
. And whats crazy, hes going to do 5 years….Thats it. 5 years is going to fly by. Before you know it, Omi will be right back out here making money like he never left. The man is a Hustler/Entepeneur. Feds can take the materialistics and assets, but they cant take that from a Man. Yall will understand one day. Keep your head up Omi. You gon be back like you never left.