Two leaders of Team Xecuter, one of the world’s most notorious video game piracy organizations, have been arrested and charged in federal district court in Seattle, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday (Oct. 2). One of the group’s leaders, a Chinese citizen, has also been indicted but remains at large.
Max Louarn, a 48-year-old French citizen, Yuanning Chen, a 35-year-old Chinese citizen living in Shenzhen, and Gary Bowser, a 51-year-old Canadian citizen living in the Dominican Republic, were indicted in a federal indictment unsealed Friday, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement released Friday.
The indictment alleges that the defendants were the leaders of a criminal enterprise that developed and sold illegal devices to hack into popular video game consoles and make them play unauthorized or pirated video games. They targeted the very popular Nintendo series of branded consoles, the Sony PlayStation Classic, and Microsoft’s Xbox.
“These arrests demonstrate that the Department of Justice will hold accountable hackers who seek to forcibly take and exploit the intellectual property of U.S. companies for financial gain, wherever they may be,” Acting Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Affairs Brian C. Rabbitt said in a statement.
Brian Moran, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, said the defendants enriched themselves by stealing and selling the labor of other video game developers. He said, “This conduct not only hurt multibillion-dollar companies, but also hijacked the hard work of individuals working to advance in the video game industry.”
According to the indictment, the group sought to protect their overall business by using a variety of brands, websites and distribution channels to evade accountability from victimized companies, financial institutions and law enforcement.
In September 2020, Luann and Bowser were arrested abroad in connection with the charges in the case. The United States will seek Luann’s extradition to the United States to stand trial. Bowser was arrested and deported from the Dominican Republic and appeared in federal court in New Jersey on Friday. Chen remains at large.
Each defendant is charged with 11 felony counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to circumvent technical measures and trafficking in circumvention devices, trafficking in circumvention devices, and conspiracy to launder money.
Recent Comments