On Tuesday (October 23), a message was sent to the 180,000 members of the private website saying, "This site has been closed as a result of a criminal investigation by IFPI [International Federation of the Phonographic Industry], BPI [British Phonographic Industry], Cleveland [U.K.] police and the Fiscal Investigation Unit of the Dutch police, into suspected illegal music distribution. A criminal investigation continues into the identities and activities of the site’s users."
OiNK, which was considered by the FBI to be the biggest music piracy sites in the Internet, has been the object of a special investigation for two years. A Middlesbrough, England man was arrested and charged following the investigation. The website is based in Amsterdam.
According to police, OiNK was making a lot of money from the illegal downloading of music from their site.