Kevin Cogill

Kevin Dale Cogill (born October 8, 1980) is a Los Angeles music blogger who is known for leaking the Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy. After leaking a suspected 9 tracks from the alleged 14-track album, Cogill was arrested in his home late August by the FBI. Chinese Democracy was released worldwide November 23, 2008, and in the UK November 24, 2008.
Leak
Cogill writes as Skwerl on his blog called Antiquiet. In the blog entry including the first leaks, he also posted a note:
"I always said that the more that Axl and Geffen jerked around trying to figure out how to release this finally finished album that we've all been waiting over 13 years for, the greater the chances would be that it would slip out of a pressing plant or office somewhere and wind up in the hands of some asshole with a blog,"
Cogill was immediately contacted by representatives of Guns N' Roses after posting the tracks. The blog server actually crashed fifteen minutes after the posting. The investigation was initially handled by RIAA who provided information regarding the posting to the FBI. Cogill was interviewed by the FBI, provided the FBI with access to his computers, and cooperated with authorities. He was not arrested until he informed the FBI that he had decided to hire a lawyer. See Case Docket, United States District Court, Central District of California, United States of America v. Kevin Cogill, CR 08-01222-PLA, Docket Number 32, filed 3/1/2009, https://ecf.cacd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/DktRpt.pl?187044406205736-L_942_0-1.
Initially arrested for felony criminal copyright infringement, Cogill's attorney, David J.P. Kaloyanides, negotiated a misdemeanor plea agreement with the government. Cogill pled guilty to one count of misdemeanor copyright infringement on December 15, 2008. See Case Docket, United States District Court, Central District of California, United States v. Kevin Cogill, CR 08-01222-PLA, Docket No. 29, https://ecf.cacd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/DktRpt.pl?187044406205736-L_942_0-1. He was sentenced to one year of probation with a condition of two months home detention. Id.
In 2014, Cogill revealed that he could not be charged for pre-releasing copyrighted material, because the band did not intend to release the album to the public.

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