The US Department of Justice reports that Canadian Gary Bowser has been sentenced to 40 months in prison for creating and maintaining chips for a number of video game consoles that allowed pirated versions of games to run. Bowser was a member of Team-Xecuter. The judge announced that the Canadian is guilty of crimes with real victims and causing harm to society.
Prosecutor Nick Brown said the group caused more than $65 million in damage to video game console companies. Prosecutors said Team-Xecuter's actions also harmed video game developers and small creative studios whose products were stolen.
The ministry emphasizes that Bowser was the leader of a criminal organization that created and sold devices that allowed game consoles to be hacked to run unauthorized and pirated games on them. The line of such consoles included the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Entertainment System Classic Edition, Nintendo 3DS, Sony PlayStation Classic and Microsoft Xbox.
The agency believes that Team-Xecuter included more than 12 people from around the world. The grouping included developers of illegal devices, website designers, vendors and managers. Bowser was in charge of administering resources that sold devices, advertised products, provided new information, and answered customer questions.
When game console manufacturers announced new security measures, Team-Xecuter released devices that could bypass the protection.
One of the victims of the group's actions said that illegal copying of games and the availability of bypass devices negatively affect the industry, as it deprives developers of incentives to be creative. National Security Investigation Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer said the organization will continue to work with law enforcement to prosecute the enemies of innovation and global trade. Another agent of the service, Donald Vuare, believes that Bowser's actions wasted the time and resources of the rightful owners of the products that Team-Xecuter is involved in hacking.
Bowser was arrested in September 2020 in the Dominican Republic, from which he was extradited to the United States.
Last December, Bowser agreed to pay Nintendo $10 million in an amicable settlement to a lawsuit filed by the company in April. Also, the Canadian was ready to pay $4.5 million to the Japanese company as compensation. In 2020, two other members of Team-Xecuter went on trial. From the moment of his arrest until the end of 2021, Bowser denied the accusations of the investigation.
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