The mods/admins shut them down after year or two, before there were any real legal consequences. As a result of that, there were a number of private spin-off sites dedicated solely to piracy, some of which continue today.
Kind of like the silk road before the darkweb.
Hopefully more will be known over time because there are some crazy stories.
Not that I would know anything about any of it
The comment you are replying to is referring to the sites dedicated solely to piracy. You have a pretty fantastical idea of what happens there.