Kifah Maswadi, 24, of Oakland, Fla., was sentenced today to 15 months in prison for selling pirated video game systems, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich and U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg of the Eastern District of Virginia announced. In addition to the prison sentence, Maswadi was ordered to pay $415,900 in restitution for criminal copyright infringement by U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis III in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Maswadi previously pleaded guilty on June 3, 2008, to a one-count indictment for criminal copyright infringement, after being indicted on Jan. 24, 2008. Maswadi admitted to selling "Power Player" handheld game consoles that were pre-loaded with at least 76 pirated copies of copyright protected video games, most of which were owned by Nintendo and Nintendo's licensees. Maswadi also admitted that from 2006 through 2007, he sold the game consoles and pirated games to customers in the Eastern District of Virginia and elsewhere through several Web sites he operated. Records showed that Maswadi's sales of the pirated game units exceeded $390,000.
In addition to the 15 month prison term and restitution order, Maswadi was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to perform 50 hours of community service, which includes educating the public on the perils of criminal copyright infringement.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay V. Prabhu and Trial Attorney Tyler G. Newby of the Criminal Division's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. The case was investigated by Special Agent Greg Ryman of the FBI's Washington Field Office. Assistance in the investigation was provided by the Entertainment Software Association.
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