Maryland-based retailer jailed for selling modified Xbox console

Maryland-based retailer jailed for selling modified Xbox console

A Maryland-based retailer running the store named Pandora’s Cube has been sentenced to 5 months in prison and fined almost USD 250,000. He was allegedly selling illegally modified Xbox consoles pre-loaded with pirate games. The owner Biren Amin will also serve five months home confinement, 80 hours of community service. He would also undergo three years of supervised release once he is released from prison.

This is not the first case of its type related to sale of modified gaming console, which enables the user to run pirated games, and other add-ons on company shipped consoles. The punishment is quite severe and ESA president Douglas applauds it saying that this sentence would come as “a clarion warning for others contemplating computer and video game piracy”.

Amin sold these modified Xbox gaming machines as ‘Super Xboxes’, which contained a chip to bypass copyright and security measures and a larger hard drive, pre-installed with pirated videogames. Three other individuals have been sentenced for committing similar crimes in the past. More individuals connected to the stores have also been punished.