If you are still using the Xbox 360 game console, you may know that Microsoft will close the digital store for the game console on July 29, 2024. The good news is that you can still use the console to play online after that date. However, it seems a former financial analyst is using the Xbox 360's online chat feature to do more than just chat with friends in multiplayer games. The FBI arrested Anthony Viggiano earlier this week and charged him with eight counts of security fraud and one count of conspiracy.
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The FBI indictment (via Kotaku) alleges that Viganano sent illegal insider financial trading information to one of his childhood friends, Christopher Salamone, between July 2021 and May 2023 while working as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
The FBI interviewed Viganano and Salamon in June 2023. The FBI alleges that Salamon recorded a conversation with Vegagliano after the interview. Viganano allegedly said in part of the recording:
Because it's similar to your situation...Signal, or like the chat function in Xbox360, cannot be tracked. Good luck.
From this point of view, Vegaiano may have used the chat function of the Microsoft game console to send some inside information to Salamon, and believed that such chat records could not be traced or found afterwards.
Regardless, Viganano's alleged insider trading was uncovered regardless of the methods used, the FBI said. If he is found guilty, each securities fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and the conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Salamon is charged with three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy. Another defendant, Stephen Forlano Jr., was also charged with three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy in the case.