The leader of the hacking group Team Xecuter, Gary Bowserwas sentenced to 40 months in prison, that is, over three years. The man created and distributed modified Nintendo consoles, used to illegally play games of the great N.
Attorney Nick Brown said Team Xecuter’s actions generated over $ 65 million in losses to videogame companies (Nintendo and related partners). “But the damage goes beyond these big companies: [Team Xecuter] it has harmed game developers and small creative studios whose products and hard work are essentially stolen when games are pirated, “he added.
At the end of last year, Bowser had changed his plea from innocent to guiltyand had agreed to pay $ 4.5 million to Nintendo.
It had originally been arrested in October 2020, along with other members of Team Xecuter, for developing and selling devices capable of hacking consoles to play pirated games, including Switch.
As reported by Kotaku, Nintendo released a statement following the announcement of Bowser’s conviction, saying he “appreciates the hard work and tireless efforts of federal prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to curb illegal activities on a global scale that cause serious damage to Nintendo and the video game industry. ”
Bowser faced up to 5 years in prison, so it seems the man managed not to get the maximum sentence.
