IT House Reported on February 5 that the U.S. government is seeking to sentence Gary Bowser, a Nintendo Switch hacker, to 5 years in prison.
Bowser is a member of a hacking group called Team-Xecuter, which began making and selling cracking devices capable of running pirated ROMs on Switch and 3DS in 2013.
According to the U.S. government, the team generated tens of millions of dollars in sales through illegal cracking sales and caused Nintendo to lose up to $150 million.
It House learned that Bowser was arrested in September 2020 and appeared in court last October, charged with 11 felonies. Instead of going to trial, he pleaded guilty to two counts and offered $4.5 million in damages to Nintendo.
Prosecutors agreed to drop all other charges, but the judge warned that Bowser could face jail time despite the plea bargain, which he admitted was punishable by up to five years in prison on each of the two counts.
In new court documents found by Eurogamer, the U.S. government and Bowser's defenders presented their recommendations to the judges. The government recommended that the court impose a 60-month prison sentence and a 3-year regulatory release based on a $4.5 million fine.