Microsoft Code Thief William Genovese Jr Meant No IllWill - 1,714 Views, 1 Comment

Summary: William Genovese Jr. goes by the code name "illwill" or "xillwillx", and admits to trying to sell stolen Microsoft Windows source code. But he wants you to know that he meant no illwill.

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William Genovese Jr., or “illwill” to his hacker friends, illegally obtained the source code for both Windows 2000, and Windows NT 4.0, and then offered it for sale. Genovese Jr. was busted when he sold the source code to both a private investigator, and an FBI agent. Oops.

illwill also used the nickname “xillwillx” in his email address.

According to prosecutors, the investigator and FBI agent sent William electronic payments, which allowed them to download the operating system source code directly from Genovese’s website. Illwill did not steal the source code himself, but rather obtained it from someone else who had. Genovese claims to not know the identity of the original thief.

illwill’s attorney, Sean Hecker, said that William Genovese Jr. is very sorry for what he’s done, and that “Mr. Genovese was anxious to put this case behind him. He is working full time at his father’s business… and is eager to be a productive member of society.”

Well, sure, now that the whole fencing stolen code thing didn’t work out as a career.

Microsoft Code Thief William Genovese Jr Meant No IllWill

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1 Comment »

you’re an asshat. you don’t even know the guy. get over yourself.

Comment by ChibiQ — 9/6/2006 @ 7:25 am

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This article first appeared on 8/31/2005

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