Two brothers who made nearly a million dollars in profit between them from sales of pirated software have had their punishment meted out by the United States Department of Justice. From 2002 through 2005 the brothers ran websites that sold pirated software at discount prices. The brothers were busted when the companies that held the copyright filed suit against the pair.

One brother, Maurice A Robberson, operated the web site CDSalesUSA.com, which grossed over $855,000 USD in sales of pirated software over the short three years it was open. He has been sentenced to three years in prison and order to pay back the entire $855,000 plus he made in profits. The software he sold was worth more than $5.6 million USD retail.

The second brother, Thomas Robberson, operated the web sites BestValueShoppe.com and TheDealDepot.net. His profits fro the two sites were much less than his brothers at about $151,000 USD. He also has been ordered to pay back his entire $151,000 plus in profits and is sentenced to 30 months in prison. The retail value of his pirated software was $1 million USD.

The two brothers were not the only ones punished for these crimes. Associates Danny Ferrer and Alton Lee Grooms were sentenced in a previous trial for conspiring to commit piracy. Ferrer owned BuysUSA.com and defrauded software makers out of $4 million in potential profits from sales of pirated software on his site. He was sentenced to 72 months in prison.

Alton Lee Grooms was considered a co-conspirator for assisting in creating the web sites and starting the businesses. His share of the profits amounted to more than $150,000 USD. In exchange for cooperating with the government investigation, his sentence was 1 year and 1 day in prison with no fines.

The brothers and their cohorts were busted after complaints from software companies triggered an undercover investigation by the FBI. Undercover agents made a series of purchases from each site, and with the cooperation of Grooms an others were able to bring the brothers to justice.

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Entry was posted on Sunday, March 9th, 2008 at 5:43 pm under Legal, Piracy.

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