Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: gaming, piracy, Team Xecuter, video games
Two Members Of Team Xecuter Have Been Arrested
An interesting turn of events for Team Xecuter today as two members of the gaming piracy group has been arrested. The news came, from of all places, The United States Department of Justice. The organization posted a notice online, letting the public know they have arrested "Max Louarn, 48, a French national of Avignon, France, Yuanning Chen, 35, a Chinese national of Shenzhen, China, and Gary Bowser, 51, a Canadian national of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic". The group has been around for nearly two decades, but they gained more public prominence when they developed the software for the rCM Loader you see below for the Nintendo Switch. You can read a snippet of the statement below or the entire thing at the link above. All three men are looking at some hefty fines and prison time if they are found guilty. No word on the status of TX as a group, but you can still purchase items from them as we speak, so business seems to be running without them.
According to court documents, the Team Xecuter criminal enterprise is comprised of over a dozen individual members located around the world. These members include developers who exploit vulnerabilities in videogame consoles and design circumvention devices; website designers who create the various websites that promote the enterprise's devices; suppliers who manufacture the devices; and resellers around the world who sell and distribute the devices.
The indictment alleges that due to the illegal nature of its business, Team Xecuter continuously sought to evade enforcement efforts by victim companies, financial institutions, and law enforcement. Notably, Team Xecuter attempted to protect its overall business by using a wide variety of brands, websites, and distribution channels, according to the indictment. From approximately June 2013 through August 2020, Team Xecuter used a variety of product names for its devices, such as the Gateway 3DS, the Stargate, the TrueBlue Mini, the Classic2Magic, and the SX line of devices that included the SX OS, the SX Pro, the SX Lite, and the SX Core.
According to the indictment, Team Xecuter at times cloaked its illegal activity with a purported desire to support gaming enthusiasts who wanted to design their own videogames for noncommercial use. However, the overwhelming demand and use for the enterprise's devices was to play pirated videogames. To support this illegal activity, Team Xecuter allegedly helped create and support online libraries of pirated videogames for its customers, and several of the enterprise's devices came preloaded with numerous pirated videogames. According to the indictment, Team Xecuter was so brazen that it even required customers to purchase a "license" to unlock the full features of its custom firmware, the SX OS, in order to enable the ability to play pirated videogames.