If you still own a working Xbox 360 game console, you may know that Microsoft is going to shut down that console"s digital store on July 29, 2024. The good news is you will still be able to play online with that console after that date.
However, it appears that a former financial analyst used the Xbox 360 online chat feature to do more than talk with friends in multiplayer matches. That"s according to the FBI, who arrested Anthony Viggiano earlier this week on eight counts of security fraud and one count of conspiracy.
The FBI indictment (via Kotaku) alleges that while Viggiano worked as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs, he sent illegal insider financial trading info to one of his childhood friends, Christopher Salamone, between July 2021 and May 2023.
The FBI interviewed both Viggiano and Salamone in June 2023. The FBI claims Salamone recorded conversations with Viggiano after those interviews. Part of the transcript of that recording has Viggiano allegedly saying:
Because similar to you ... signal, or like XBOX 360 chat, there"s no tracing that. Good luck ever finding that.
It would appear that Viggiano might have allegedly sent some of his insider info to Salamone using the chat feature in Microsoft"s game console, with the idea that such chats could not be traced or found afterward, There"s no word on if the FBI actually does have those Xbox 360 chats.
In any case, no matter what method was used, Viggiano"s alleged actions in insider trading were discovered anyway, according to the FBI. If he is found guilty, each one of the securities fraud charges has a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, while the conspiracy charge has a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Salamone was charged with three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy. Another person, Stephen Forlano Jr, was also charged with three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy in this case.