On Monday, the man known as the ”Spam King’ of America, and four of his cronies plead guilty in federal court for their roles in an international spamming scheme.

Alan Ralsky was at the center of an email spamming scheme that sent billions of illegal e-mail advertisements to pump up Chinese “penny” stocks.

“Ralsky, 64, of West Bloomfield, Mich., who served as the chief executive officer and primary deal maker for the spam operation, pleaded guilty to a variety of charges, including wire fraud, money laundering and violating the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM Act), which prohibits the falsification of certain information used in the transmission of e-mail. He faces up to 87 months in prison and a $1 million fine.”

Ralsky’s sentencing guidelines are 75-87 months, but since he “fully cooperated” with the government, he is going to try and get a plea agreement of 35-43 months.

Ralsky’s lawyer remains skeptical about the harm his client actually caused and questioned the purpose of the law he was prosecuted under, namely, the CAN-SPAM Act.

The federal lawyers see it like this though:

“Using the Internet to manipulate the stock market through spam e-mail campaigns is a serious crime, and this case serves notice that federal law enforcement has the both the capability and the will to successfully investigate, prosecute and punish such cybercrimes,” said Terrence Berg, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, in a statement.

The prosecution is the U.S. Department of Justice’s largest to date under the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act.

All defendants will be sentenced on October 29th.

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As an avid social media user I have been keeping my eye on this case since it started… After the conviction of Seattle’s Spam King Robert Soloway this past March on multiple charges relating to his mega-spamming operation, I knew that they were going to put their foot down, but wow, this wasn’t just a foot. They put down a size 14 steel toed work boot.

“Facebook has won an $873 million judgment against a Canadian resident for sending millions of spam messages to the Facebook social networking site. A San Jose, California Federal Judge issued the order on Friday, which is believed to be the largest to date under the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act, or the CAN-SPAM Act”

The judgment was delivered against Montreal resident Adam Guerbuez and Atlantis Blue Capital, which is a fake business name that is used by Guerbuez.

Apparently the spam appeared in the form of posts on Facebook user profiles, and drove users to third party sites advertising things deemed to be offensive and embarrassing to a large segment of the Facebook users who received, or viewed these messages. The messages included marijuana advocation, male enhancement pills, and sexually oriented material.

The judge ordered the defendant to pay $436 million in statutory damages for harm to its reputation and goodwill, and spent additional time and money to control the spam. The rest of the money awarded went to attorney fees and costs of the lawsuit.

Social Networking is part of our lives these days.  It can be used as a part of our network to connect with colleagues and prospective employers. Guerbez’ spam could have really affected a few peoples real life by putting things that are inappropriate on their profile.

“We were obviously very happy with the judgment…” said Sam O’Rourke, a senior corporate counsel for the Palo Alto, California-based Facebook. “I wouldn’t be shocked if we didn’t recover the entire amount… but we are planning on collecting as much as we can.”

Good Riddance and Good Luck!!

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