US prosecutors on Monday unsealed indictments against six people suspected of collectively pirating millions of applications tailored for Android-powered mobile devices.

Criminal charges were leveled at leading members of "piracy groups" SnappzMarket, Appbucket, and Applanet, according to the US Department of Justice.

"Copyright infringement discourages smart people from doing innovative things," US attorney Sally Quillian Yates of the Northern District of Georgia said in a release.

"This problem is especially acute when it comes to rapidly developing technologies, like apps for smart phones, and these defendants are now being held accountable for the intellectual property they stole."

The groups rented computer servers to host websites such as snappzmarket.com, appbucket.net, and applanet.net that stored and distributed pirated copies of copyrighted Android applications, according to the indictments.

Online domains for those websites were seized by authorities in August of 2012 in the first crackdown of its kind on mobile device app marketplaces, prosecutors said.

During the years prior to the Web addresses being seized, millions of dollars' worth of pirated mini-programs for Android-powered mobile devices were distributed by the websites, in what was portrayed as criminal copyright infringement.

"Today's federal indictments are the direct result of an extensive and thorough federal investigation into three groups of individuals aggressively engaged in and profiting from the theft of intellectual property," special agent in charge J. Britt Johnson of the FBI Atlanta field office.

"The FBI will continue to provide significant investigative resources toward such groups engaged in such wholesale pirating or copyright violations as seen here."

Each of those named in the indictments lives in the United States.

Ex-Qualcomm exec pleads guilty to insider trading
Washington (AFP) July 21, 2014 - A former high-ranking executive of US computer chip giant Qualcomm pleaded guilty Monday to insider trading charges, including trades on a 2011 deal for Atheros Communications, officials said.

Jing Wang, 51, the former executive pice president and president of global business operations at Qualcomm, also pleaded guilty to laundering the proceeds of his insider trading using an offshore shell company, the Justice Department said.

"Not satisfied with his lucrative executive position at Qualcomm, Jing Wang traded on insider information about the company's acquisitions and earnings to gain an illegal advantage in the financial market," said Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell.

"Wang then laundered close to $250,000 in insider trading profits, and created a cover-up story to hide his crimes."

According to prosecutors, Wang committed insider trading on three separate occasions over a 10-month period in 2010 and 2011 and received around $250,000 in illegal gains.

The purchases included $277,739 of Qualcomm stock prior to the company's unexpected announcement of a dividend increase and stock repurchase program.

Authorities said that in December 2010, while he was in Hong Kong, Wang purchased Atheros stock hours after Qualcomm's board made an offer for Atheros that had not been made public.

A few weeks later, in January 2011, Wang directed his stock broker to sell the Atheros stock in a brokerage account held in the name of an offshore entity and used the proceeds to purchase Qualcomm stock, one day before the firm announced record earnings results.

Officials said the money laundering charges stem from transferring over $500,000 to an account in the British Virgin Islands.

The Justice Department said Wang conspired with his brother, Bing Wang, and his stock broker to fabricate evidence and concoct a false cover story for the trades.

Bing Wang, who is currently believed to reside in China, is wanted on an international arrest warrant, officials said.

Qualcomm announced the deal for the Wi-Fi group in early 2011 for $3.1 billion.