Pitchfork

Alan Ellis, founder and key operator of the recently terminated music torrent portal OiNK, has been charged by British police with "conspiracy to defraud", according to an announcement on OiNK's site. [Via the Daily Swarm.] Ellis' case will be heard in a magistrate's court on September 24.

According to a report on file-sharing info hub Torrent Freak, the charges against Ellis are not related to copyright matters. Ellis, who loudly and proudly maintained his innocence around the time of OiNK's shuttering, was supposed to be charged several times during the past year, but the process was postponed at least once due to a lack of evidence.

Not coincidentally, Torrent Freak also reports that several former OiNK users who were arrested in May for illegal file-sharing were recently charged with copyright infringement. Curiously, the charges stem from the uploading of a single CD.