Porn-trolling operation Prenda Law sued thousands for illegally downloading porn files over BitTorrent. Now, a new document from Comcast appears to confirm suspicions that it was actually Prenda mastermind John Steele who uploaded those files.

If true, it would be a major blow to Prenda's case. There could be an "implied license" to any porn uploaded by Prenda, since it was initiating the sharing of the copyrighted material. The complaints about piracy and lawsuits would be farces if Steele himself initiated the piracy. Prenda and its principals are already in serious trouble after a federal judge issued a tough sanctions order against the firm.

The allegations about uploading porn to The Pirate Bay to create a "honeypot" to lure downloaders first became public in June, when an expert report filed by Delvan Neville was filed in a Florida case. The allegations gained steam when The Pirate Bay dug through its own backup tapes to find more evidence linking John Steele to an account called sharkmp4.

The new Comcast document relates to a Georgia case called AF Holdings v. Patel—AF Holdings is one of several shell companies linked to Prenda. A defense attorney in that case sent out subpoenas seeking information about who was using a particular IP address at 21:44:33 UTC. According to the document, that IP address was assigned to Steele Hansmeier PLLC, the firm name once used by John Steele and his partner Paul Hansmeier.

The Comcast document is dated August 2, was filed in court Wednesday, and was published this morning by TorrentFreak. It's a letter from Comcast's legal department to defense lawyer Blair Chintella, and it only identifies Steele Hansmeier as controlling a particular IP address at a particular time. The most recent action in the AF Holdings v. Patel case consists of a motion in which Prenda's Georgia-based lawyer, Jacques Nazaire, asks the judge to seal future documents in the case because it has generated "much unneeded attention on the Internet."

A telephone message left with Hansmeier wasn't immediately returned. Steele also couldn't be immediately contacted, and an e-mail address he previously used appears to have been shut down. In June, Steele steadfastly denied ever uploading torrent files, telling Ars: "I have never uploaded a torrent in my life, I have never instructed anyone to do so, and I am not aware of anyone I have worked with in any capacity whatsoever (other than pirates of course). I am not sure how much more unequivocal about it I can be."

Note: an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Comcast document was not in the public record.