Pirate Bay Co-Founder Carl Lundström Dies in Plane Crash
Swedish businessman Carl Lundström, a co-founder and financial backer of the file-sharing site The Pirate Bay, has died in a plane crash. He was 64.
As reported by The Independent, the prominent member of the far-right Alternative for Sweden party was traveling from the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, to Zurich, Switzerland when the small plane he was piloting crashed into the Slovenian mountains.
On Tuesday, Alternative for Sweden released a statement confirming the details of Lundström's death, praising him as a 'legend and veteran of Swedish nationalism.'
From 2003 to 2005, Lundström sold the services of his company Rix Telecom and provided equipment to The Pirate Bay, which housed a BitTorrent index allowing for copyrighted music, movies, software, and books to be widely — and illegally — spread across the internet.
During a 2009 trial, Lundström was found guilty of 'accessory to breaching copyright law' alongside Frederik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, and Peter Sunde. They were each sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to jointly pay 30 million SEK (approximately $3.5 million) in damages.
Lundström's appeal brought his sentence down to four months, but their fine was increased to 32 million SEK.
Outside of The Pirate Bay, Lundström has been active in Swedish far-right politics since the '80s. Most recently, he ran in the 2021 elections for Church Assembly as an Alternative for Sweden candidate.
Alternative for Sweden is a far-right, nationalist party that was founded in 2018 by expelled members of the Sweden Democrats. Its political stances include the mass deportation of immigrants, a call to withdraw from the European Union, and bans on same-sex adoption and same-sex marriage.
Lundström was also the heir to Swedish crisp bread producer Wasabröd, as reported in Metro.
Pirate Bay Co-Founder Carl Lundström Dies in Plane Crash Eddie Fu
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