Pirated Software Seller From China Convicted

Pirated Software Seller From China Convicted

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE agency indicated that a Chinese national who operated a website selling pirated software was sentenced to twelve years in a federal prison. Li Xiang was charged with criminal copyright infringement and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The Chengdu, China resident was arrested by US agents in Saipan in June 2011. He thought he was going to deliver data to the representatives of an American businessman.

The website of Li offered copies of software that had its licensing files skirted or removed. The statement of ICE did not indicate the title of the software that Li sold through the website. However, it indicated that the pirated software were related to defense, electronics, aerospace simulation and design, intelligence gathering, explosives simulation, mining, mathematics, manufacturing, storm water management, manufacturing plant design, and space exploration.

Even though Li only had around 400 clients, his revenue for the pirated software reached $100 million in 700 transactions.

Among his clients were countries that were subjected to a trade embargo by the US for software products. His clientele also included contractors for the US government who had security clearances and foreign government agents. An electronics engineer from NASA who designed a thermal simulator for Huawei on the network of NASA was one of the clients of Li.

Another freelance contractor used the software in designing components for the radars systems of Black Hawk helicopters as well as Marine One.

ICE agents started making purchases from Li in January 2010. The Saipan meeting was suggested to Li in order to discuss distribution plans and collect the software from Li. He was arrested inside a hotel in Saipan before being brought to Delaware.

Li distributed the software through crack99.com. ICE agents think he was part of a bigger network of hackers that crack and sell software. The sentencing of Li is considered as a major achievement in the fight against the sale of pirated software.

Posted by James Fried on Wednesday June 12 2013, 4:24 AM EST. Ref: PC World. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0