Last month the popular private BitTorrent tracker OiNK was effectively shut down in a joint effort by Dutch and British law enforcement. OiNK admin Alan Ellis who was arrested during the raid now launched a legal defense fund to cover the legal costs and asks former OiNK members to help him out.

Alan has put a message on his reclaimed domain where he writes: “A PayPal account has been setup for those of you wishing to give a gift to help cover legal costs, if or when they arise. Although the account is not in my name (it can’t be), it is someone I trust.”

The donations will be used to cover the legal costs Alan is likely to make. If for some reason the money isn’t needed it will be donated to an animal charity (pigs?). The official OiNK fundraiser is hosted at saveoink.com, and unlike the scams we have seen before, it is totally legit.

OiNK was considered by many to be the best BitTorrent music tracker the world has ever seen. With 180,000 members it was without a doubt one of the most popular private BitTorrent trackers. Although most of its members found a new home by now, there is little doubt that it will be very hard to equal the success of OiNK

At this point it is still unclear what the charges against Alan will be, more details on this will come out next month. We will keep you updated of course.