Chinese Man Set to Plead Guilty in Massive Software Piracy Case

Despite a price tag of $100 million, allegedly only profited $60,000 in the scheme

A Chinese national was set to plead guilty Monday for his role in a massive $100 million online software piracy scheme that authorities said was "one of the most significant copyright infringement cases ever uncovered."

According to Delaware federal court papers, Xiang Li has agreed to plead guilty to two federal charges related to the selling, without authorization, of high-end software programs for a fraction of their retail worth.

The indictment (.pdf)  accused Li of cracking access controls on the pirated software, which included titles like Agilent Advanced Design System with a retail value of $229,000. The indictment said he and a co-conspirator sold the design software for $60 on sites like crack99, cad100 and dongle-crack-download. Another title, Ansys Ansoft Designer 3.5, which retailed for roughly $41,000, sold for $40, according to the indictment.