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Florida pirate banged up for six years
'To the brig with ye'
An online software piracy baron was sentenced to six years imprisonment by a US federal court on Friday.
Danny Ferrer, of Lakeland, Florida, ran buysusa.com between 2002 and 19 October, 2005, when it was shut down by the FBI. He pleaded guilty on 15 June on one count of conspiracy and one count of criminal copyright infringement.
Authories said their investigation, assisted by the Business Software Alliance, revealed Ferrer, 37, and his crew mailed out $4.1m in copied Adobe, Macromedia and Autodesk software. Investigators said the operation had cost developers more than $20m.
US Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said: "We are very pleased with the sentence imposed today – one of the longest ever imposed for software piracy – and trust that it sends a strong message to those who pilfer the intellectual property of others."
Among the booty Ferrer will be made to forfeit to authorities are:
A Cessna 152A Cessna 172RG
A Model TS-11 ISKRA aircraft
A RotorWay International helicopter
A 1992 Lamborghini
A 2005 Hummer
A 2002 Chevrolet Corvette
Two 2005 Chevrolet Corvettes
A 2005 Lincoln Navigator
An IGATE G500 LE Flight Simulator
A 1984 28 foot Marinette hardtop express boat
An ambulance
As well as the prison term and losing his plundered fleet, Ferrer was ordered to pay $4.1m in restitution, and do 50 hours community service. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
