Today, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington imposed a 40-month sentence upon Gary W. Bowser, one of the leaders of the Team Xecuter criminal enterprise. Bowser is one of the founders of Team Xecuter who created and sold console-hacking software and devices used to play pirated Nintendo Switch games.

In November 2021, Bowser pleaded guilty to two charges and agreed to pay a US$10 million fine in a separate Nintendo lawsuit. Earlier this month, the US government recommended to the federal judge a five-year jail term and an additional US$4.5 million fine.

Nintendo thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) of the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section, and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs for their significant contribution and assistance.

Team Xecuter is a video game hacker group known for making modchips and jailbreaking game consoles. Console systems targeted by the group include the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS, NES Classic Edition, Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox, and the Microsoft Xbox 360.


Source: BusinessWire