Nintendo Hacker Bowser Sentenced 3-year Jail for Nintendo Related Crimes

 Nintendo Hacker Bowser Sentenced 3-year Prison for Crimes against Nintendo

The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington recently charged Nintendo Canadian hacker Gary Bowser to 40 months in prison for making and selling "console-hacking software and devices used to play copied Nintendo Switch games." This is according to a victory lap-style press release issued by Nintendo this afternoon, it devotes a major fraction of its word count to praised American law enforcement.

Bowser's team Xecuter created and sold devices meant to hack consoles, allowing players to modify games and play pirated games. Bowser, a 51-year-old Canadian who was detained in the Dominican Republic and has no relation to Doug Bowser or King Koopa, had already agreed to pay two separate fines: $4.5 million in restitution to Nintendo of America and a further $10 million in "monetary relief" to Nintendo of America. That all his consoles have also been destroyed.

According to US officials, the group's criminal activity generated tens of millions of dollars in sales and led victims to lost up to $150 million. 

Team Xecuter "caused more than $65 million in losses to video game companies," according to U.S. Attorney Nick Brown, who added that the loss went beyond financial losses, "harming video game developers and small, creative studios whose products and hard work are essentially stolen when games are pirated." The total statement is given below so you can see how much gratitude is expressed. 

Nintendo praises federal prosecutors and law enforcement authorities for their continuous trying to end criminal acts that affect Nintendo and the video game industry on an international market. Nintendo would like to express its gratitude to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington, the United States Department of Justice's Cyber Crimes and Intellectual Property Section, and the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs for their valuable contributions and additional help.

Bowser was arrested in September 2020 and convicted with 11 criminal charges when he appeared in court in October of that year. He pleaded guilty to two charges and offered Nintendo $4.5 million or by face a trial. Nintendo had initially hoped for a 5-year prison sentence for the hacker.

Bowser's legal team has requested the court for a 19-month sentence, which would allow him to be released in three months due to time already spent. 

Bowser was forced to pay Nintendo an additional $10 million fine in a separate civil lawsuit for his role in the sale of system mods.

Max Louarn, 49, of France, and Yuanning Chen, 36, of China, have also been charged, but they are not currently in custody. Since September of 2020, Bowser has been imprisoned in federal custody.

h/s: justice.gov

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