Gary Bowser, mastermind of the Team Xecuter pirate group, was sentenced to 40 months in prison and a very heavy fine by the American courts in Washington State.
With his accomplices, he developed and sold hacking systems aimed mainly at Nintendo consoles.
No castle, but bars
Beyond the comic aspect of the thing, due to his surname which is also identical to that of the boss of Nintendo of America, Gary Bowser has long been sought by the authorities, before being found in the Dominican Republic and then extradited to the United States. Accused of being primarily responsible for the case, as the administrator of the sites selling the hacking hardware and software, Bowser had already pleaded guilty last year, and agreed to pay $4,5 million to Nintendo.
Justice therefore sentenced him to three years and four months in prison, and an additional fine of 10 million dollars. For its part, Nintendo salutes the work of the authorities, and awaits the judgments of Bowser's accomplices, Max Louarn and Yuanning Chen. Only the first, a 48-year-old Spaniard, has been arrested and is awaiting extradition, with the third man still eluding authorities. Nick Brown, attorney at law, estimates that the damage caused by the still active Team Xecuter caused Nintendo to lose more than $65 million.
