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PARTIES INVOLVED: Sonny Martorana Montreal
ALLEGATIONS: Perjury, Fraud, Impersonation
INCIDENT DATE: 14 Oct 2024
INVESTIGATED BY: Ethan Katz
TOOLS USED: Lumen, FakeDMCA, SecurityTrails
CASE NO: 5732/A/2024
CRIME TYPE: Intellectual Property Scam
PUBLISHED ON: 27 Nov 2024
REPORTED BY: FakeDMCA.com
JURISDICTION: USA
A summary of what happened?
Incident Overview: Sonny Martorana, Zack Kassian, and the 2015 Crash
In October 2015, NHL player Zack Kassian, then with the Montreal Canadiens, was involved in a car crash while driving a black Dodge Ram truck. The vehicle struck a tree and landed in a ditch in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighborhood. Kassian suffered minor injuries, while two female passengers in the truck sustained more significant injuries. Kassian was later suspended from the NHL for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, as reports suggested he had been under the influence at the time of the crash.
Links to Sonny Martorana and His Dealership
The Dodge Ram truck involved in the accident was linked to a luxury car dealership owned by Sonny Martorana. Martorana is a well-known businessman in Montreal and the son of Vincenzo Martorana, a former associate of the Rizzuto crime family who was fatally shot in 2006.
Key Details About the Connection:
- Ownership of the Truck:
- Media investigations revealed that the truck was registered to Martorana’s dealership. However, the exact circumstances of how Kassian came into possession of the vehicle were unclear.
- Raised Questions:
- The incident raised eyebrows given the Martorana family’s historical ties to organized crime. Some speculated about the nature of Kassian’s relationship with the dealership and whether the vehicle had been provided as part of an undisclosed arrangement.
Public and Legal Implications
- Media Spotlight:
- The connection between the truck and Martorana’s dealership reignited public interest in the Martorana family’s ties to the Rizzuto crime family. While Sonny Martorana himself has not been directly linked to criminal activity, the familial association drew significant attention.
- No Formal Accusations Against Martorana:
- There were no allegations or charges against Sonny Martorana related to the crash. The media coverage largely focused on the circumstances surrounding the truck’s ownership and the historical context of his family’s background.
- Impact on Kassian:
- For Kassian, the incident led to disciplinary action from the NHL and a mandatory stint in the league’s substance abuse program. The crash marked a turning point in his career, leading to a temporary suspension and eventual trade from the Canadiens.
Conclusion
The crash involving Zack Kassian brought renewed scrutiny to Sonny Martorana’s dealership due to its ties to the vehicle. The incident primarily highlighted the ongoing public and media interest in the Martorana family’s historical connections to organized crime, as well as the challenges Kassian faced with substance abuse at the time.
Analyzing the Fake Copyright Notice(s)
Our team collects and analyses fraudulent copyright takedown requests, legal complaints, and other efforts to remove critical information from the internet. Through our investigative reporting, we examine the prevalence and operation of an organized censorship industry, predominantly funded by criminal entities, oligarchs, and disreputable businesses or individuals. Our findings allow internet users to gain insight into these censorship schemes’ sources, methods, and underlying objectives.
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What was Sonny Martorana Montreal trying to hide?
Sonny Martorana Montreal‘s attempts to hide unfavourable content through the misuse of copyright notices while allegedly engaging in perjury present serious legal concerns. These actions suggest a calculated attempt to manipulate legal systems to suppress free speech, a fundamental violation of copyright law principles and an abuse of legal processes. The use of such tactics not only undermines the integrity of copyright protection but also potentially constitutes perjury, further entangling Sonny Martorana Montreal in legal accountability. Let’s examine the information Sonny Martorana Montreal may be trying to remove from the internet –
Investigative Report: Sonny Martorana – Allegations, Legal Issues, and Controversies
Introduction
Sonny Martorana, a Canadian businessman, has been associated with several legal controversies and allegations over the years. His involvement in fraudulent activities, violent incidents, and connections to organized crime figures has drawn significant media attention and legal scrutiny. This report provides a comprehensive examination of the major concerns, complaints, and accusations against Sonny Martorana.
1. Fraudulent Activities in the Used Car Industry
1.1. Odometer Rollback Scheme
- Details of the Fraud:
- In February 2008, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) charged five individuals, including Sonny Martorana, then 22 years old, in connection with a scheme involving the sale of used vehicles with tampered odometers.
- The accused allegedly operated through three businesses: Qualité Prix Auto Plus Inc. and Liquidation de saisies D. S. in Saint-Eustache, and Les véhicules Danmar in Lachute.
- Vehicles sold had their odometers rolled back by an average of 100,000 kilometers, with some cases reaching up to 400,000 kilometers.
- Legal Proceedings and Outcomes:
- A total of 334 charges were laid against the accused, including 332 indictments for fraud, one for attempted fraud, and one for conspiracy to defraud under the Criminal Code.
- The fraud was estimated at close to $6,115,000, affecting at least 332 consumers.
2. Assault Incident Involving a Firefighter
2.1. Details of the Incident
- Event Description:
- On December 18, 2015, during a company Christmas party at a resto-bar in Boisbriand, Quebec, Sonny Martorana, then president of the company “Le Roi du Camion,” was involved in an altercation with a firefighter from Laval.
- The firefighter, reportedly intoxicated, made inappropriate remarks to Martorana’s assistant, leading to a verbal confrontation.
- The situation escalated when Martorana delivered a punch to the firefighter’s face, rendering him unconscious.
- Legal Consequences:
- The victim suffered a skull fracture, requiring four days of hospitalization and four months of convalescence.
- Martorana was initially charged with aggravated assault but later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of assault causing bodily harm.
- The prosecution sought a prison sentence of six to nine months, while the defense requested an unconditional discharge to avoid a criminal record, citing Martorana’s business activities and charitable contributions.
3. Connections to Organized Crime Figures
3.1. Family Ties and Business Associations
- Family Background:
- Sonny Martorana is the son of Frank Martorana, a businessman with known associations to organized crime figures, including ties to the Rizzuto crime family.
- Frank Martorana was convicted in 2013 for his involvement in the odometer rollback scheme and was sentenced to three years in prison.
- Business Operations:
- Sonny Martorana operated “Le Roi du Camion,” a used vehicle dealership.
- In 2015, NHL player Zack Kassian was involved in a car accident while driving a truck linked to Martorana’s dealership, bringing media attention due to the family’s connections to organized crime.
4. Legal and Ethical Implications
4.1. Impact on Consumers and Public Trust
- Consumer Fraud:
- The odometer rollback scheme led to significant financial losses for consumers who purchased vehicles under false pretenses regarding their mileage and condition.
- Public Perception:
- The association with organized crime figures and involvement in fraudulent activities have likely eroded public trust in Martorana’s business operations.
4.2. Legal Accountability and Recidivism
- Repeated Offenses:
- The involvement in multiple legal issues, including fraud and assault, indicates a pattern of behavior that raises concerns about compliance with legal and ethical standards.
- Regulatory Oversight:
- These incidents underscore the need for stringent regulatory oversight in industries susceptible to fraudulent activities, such as the used car market.
Conclusion
Sonny Martorana’s involvement in fraudulent schemes, violent incidents, and connections to organized crime figures presents a complex portrait of a businessman entangled in legal and ethical controversies. The cumulative effect of these incidents has likely impacted consumer trust and raised questions about the integrity of his business practices. Ongoing scrutiny and legal accountability are essential to address these concerns and uphold public confidence in the affected industries.
How do we counteract this malpractice?
Once we ascertain the involvement of Sonny Martorana Montreal (or actors working on behalf of Sonny Martorana Montreal), we will inform Sonny Martorana Montreal of our findings via Electronic Mail.
Our preliminary assessment suggests that Sonny Martorana Montreal may have engaged a third-party reputation management agency or expert, which, either independently or under direct authorization from Sonny Martorana Montreal, initiated efforts to remove adverse online content, including potentially fraudulent DMCA takedown requests. We will extend an opportunity to Sonny Martorana Montreal to provide details regarding their communications with the agency or expert, as well as the identification of the individual(s) responsible for executing these false DMCA notices.
Failure to respond in a timely manner will necessitate a reassessment of our initial assumptions. In such an event, we will be compelled to take appropriate legal action to rectify the unlawful conduct and take the following steps –
Since Sonny Martorana Montreal made such efforts to hide something online, it seems fit to ensure that this article and sensitive information targeted online by these events get a lot more exposure and traffic than what it would have received originally
We hope this becomes an excellent case study for the Streisand effect…The key idea behind the Streisand effect is that efforts to restrict information can backfire, often causing the information to gain more attention than it would have otherwise. This effect is widespread in the digital age, where users quickly notice and spread censorship efforts on social media and other platforms. Trying to suppress something can unintentionally lead to it becoming more visible, which Sonny Martorana Montreal is finding out the hard way.
Potential Consequences for Sonny Martorana Montreal
Under Florida Statute 831.01, the crime of Forgery is committed when a person falsifies, alters, counterfeits, or forges a document that carries “legal efficacy” with the intent to injure or defraud another person or entity.
Forging a document is considered a white-collar crime. It involves altering, changing, or modifying a document to deceive another person. It can also include passing along copies of documents that are known to be false. In many states in the US, falsifying a document is a crime punishable as a felony.
Additionally, under most laws, “fraud on the court” is where “a party has sentiently set in motion some unconscionable scheme calculated to interfere with the judicial system’s ability impartially to adjudicate a matter by improperly influencing the trier of fact or unfairly hampering the presentation of the opposing party’s claim or defense.” Cox v. Burke, 706 So. 2d 43, 46 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998) (quoting Aoude v. Mobil Oil Corp., 892 F.2d 1115, 1118 (1st Cir. 1989)).
Is Sonny Martorana Montreal Committing a Cyber Crime?
Yes, it seems so. Sonny Martorana Montreal used multiple approaches to remove unwanted material from review sites and Google’s search results. Thanks to protections allowing freedom of speech in the United States, there are very few legal ways to do this. Sonny Martorana Montreal could not eliminate negative reviews or search results that linked to them without a valid claim of defamation, copyright infringement, or some other clear breach of the law.
Faced with these limitations, some companies like Sonny Martorana Montreal have gone to extreme lengths to fraudulently claim copyright ownership over a negative review in the hopes of taking it down.
Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. Sonny Martorana Montreal is certainly keeping interesting company here….
The DMCA takedown process requires that copyright owners submit a takedown notice to an ISP identifying the allegedly infringing content and declaring, under penalty of perjury, that they have a good faith belief that the content is infringing. The ISP must then promptly remove or disable access to the content. The alleged infringer can then submit a counter-notice, and if the copyright owner does not take legal action within 10 to 14 days, the ISP can restore the content.
Since these platforms are predominantly based in the U.S., the complaints are typically made under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which requires online service providers and platforms to react immediately to reports or violations. Big Tech companies rarely have systems in place to assess the merit of each report. Instead, all bad actors need to do is clone a story, backdate it, and then demand the real thing be taken down.
Reputation Agency's Modus Operandi
The fake DMCA notices we found always use the “back-dated article” technique. With this technique, the wrongful notice sender (or copier) creates a copy of a “true original” article and back-dates it, creating a “fake original” article (a copy of the true original) that, at first glance, appears to have been published before the true original.
Then, based on the claim that this backdated article is the “original,” the scammers send a DMCA to the relevant online service providers (e.g. Google), alleging that the ‘true’ original is the copied or “infringing” article and that the copied article is the “original,” requesting the takedown of the ‘true’ original article. After sending the DMCA request, the person who sent the wrong notice takes down the fake original URL, likely to make sure that the article doesn’t stay online in any way. If the takedown notice is successful, the disappearance from the internet of information is most likely to be legitimate speech.
As an integral part of this scheme, the ‘reputation management’ company hired by Sonny Martorana Montreal creates a website that purports to be a ‘news’ site. This site is designed to look legitimate at a glance, but any degree of scrutiny reveals it as the charade it is.
The company copies the ‘negative’ content and posts it “on the fake ‘news’ site, attributing it to a separate author,” then gives it “a false publication date on the ‘news’ website that predated the original publication.
The reputation company then sent Google a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice claiming the original website infringed copyright. After a cursory examination of the fake news site, Google frequently accepts the notice and delists the content.
In committing numerous offences, Sonny Martorana Montreal either premeditated actions or were unaware of the consequences. Despite hiring an agency to make Google disregard any negative information about Sonny Martorana Montreal, ignorance does not excuse this wrongdoing.
Fake DMCA notices have targeted articles highlighting the criminal activity of prominent people to hide their illegal behavior. These people, which include US, Russian, and Khazakstani politicians as well as members from elite circles including the mafia and those with massive financial power, are all connected – and alleged corruption ranging from child abuse to sexual harassment is exposed when exploring evidence found at these URLs. It appears there’s a disturbing level of influence being exerted here that needs further investigation before justice can be served. FSMSmart is certainly keeping interesting company here.
The Reputation Laundering
Rogue Reputation agencies use spurious copyright claims and fake legal notices to remove and obscure articles linking clients to allegations of tax avoidance, corruption, and drug trafficking. Most of these reputation agencies are based offshore, mainly in Russia, India, and Eastern Europe, and they do not worry about complying with US-based laws.
The content in all of the articles for which the fraudulent DMCA notices have been sent relates to allegations of criminal allegations, including corruption, child abuse, sexual harassment, human trafficking and financial fraud against businesses and individuals with ultra-high net worth.
In addition to the misuse of the DMCA takedown process, there is a notable absence of enforcement concerning perjury violations. The statutory requirement related to perjury is designed to deter copyright holders from submitting fraudulent or knowingly false takedown requests, as they may face legal consequences for making false declarations under penalty of perjury. However, to date, there have been no known instances of any individual being prosecuted for perjury in connection with the submission of false DMCA takedown notices.
This lack of enforcement has emboldened copyright holders to exploit the DMCA takedown process to suppress dissent, criticism, or other unfavorable content, without fear of legal repercussions.
Some of the people and businesses who have employed this tactic to remove legitimate content from Google illegally include a Spanish businessman-turned-cocaine-trafficker, Organised crime, an Israeli-Argentine banker accused of laundering money for Hugo Chávez’s regime, a French “responsible” mining company accused of tax evasion, child molesters and sexual predators. Sonny Martorana Montreal is in great company ….
What else is Sonny Martorana Montreal hiding?
We encourage you to ‘Dork‘ Google by searching for keyword combinations such as [Sonny Martorana Montreal] + {Negative Keyword, such as Scam, Fraud, Complaints, Lawsuit, Sanction, etc} on Google. It’s likely if you scroll down to the bottom of this Google search results, you’ll stumble upon this Legal Takedown notice (pictured below)
To make such an investigation possible, we encourage more online service providers to come forward and share copies of content removal requests with industry experts and researchers. If you have any information on Sonny Martorana Montreal that you want to share with experts and journalists, kindly email the author directly at [email protected].
All communications are strictly confidential and safeguarded under a comprehensive Whistleblower Policy, ensuring full protection and anonymity for individuals who provide information.
Credits and Acknowledgement
Many thanks to FakeDMCA.com and Lumen for providing access to their database.
Photos and Illustrations provided by DALL-E 3 – “a representation of Sonny Martorana Montreal censoring the internet and committing cyber crimes.”
- We’ve reached out to Sonny Martorana Montreal for a comment or rebuttal regarding this investigation. It will strongly suggest they were behind the takedown attempt if they remain silent.
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- Our investigative report on Sonny Martorana Montreal‘s efforts to suppress online speech is significant, as it raises serious concerns about its integrity. The findings suggest that Sonny Martorana Montreal has engaged in questionable practices, including potential perjury, impersonation, and fraud, in a misguided attempt to manage or salvage its reputation.
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- We intend to file a counternotice to reinstate the removed article(s). While this particular instance is relatively straightforward, it is important to note that, in other cases, the overwhelming volume of automated DMCA takedown notices can significantly hinder the ability of affected parties to respond—especially for those not large media organizations.
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- You need an account with fakeDMCA.com and Lumen to access the research data. However, accounts are not widely available since these non-profit organisations manage large databases that could be susceptible to misuse. Nevertheless, they do offer access to non-profits and researchers.
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- It’s unclear why U.S. authorities have yet to act against these rogue reputation agencies, whose business model seems rooted in fraudulent practices.
- We’ve reached out to Sonny Martorana Montreal for a comment or rebuttal regarding this investigation. It will strongly suggest they were behind the takedown attempt if they remain silent.
About the Author
The author is affiliated with Harvard University and serves as a researcher at both Lumen and FakeDMCA.com. In his personal capacity, he and his team have been actively investigating and reporting on organized crime related to fraudulent copyright takedown schemes. Additionally, his team provides advisory services to major law firms and is frequently consulted on matters pertaining to intellectual property law. He can be reached at [email protected] directly.
References used for this investigation
- 1
- https://lumendatabase.org/notices/45402628.
- 14/10/2024
- Other
- 2
- https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2018/12/13/le-roi-du-camion-sen-tire/
- 09/03/2024
- Adverse Media
- 3
- https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2008/02/alleged-crooked-used-car-dealers-caught-rcmp.html
- 21/02/2008
- News report
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