11/27/09
'Godfather of Spam,' sentenced to 51 months in prison
Alan Ralsky, the man the Feds nicknamed the “Godfather of Spam,” was sentence to prison for his part in a stock fraud and spamming scheme, which he pleaded guilty to in June. Ralsky was sentenced to 51 months in prison for conspiring to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and violate the CAN-SPAM Act. Three others involved in the scheme were also sentenced. “With today's (Nov. 23) sentence of the self-proclaimed 'Godfather of Spam,' Alan Ralsky, and three others who played central roles in a complicated stock spam pump and dump scheme, the Court has made it clear that advancing fraud through abuse of the internet will lead to several years in prison,” said U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg for the Eastern District of Michigan. According to court documents, from January 2004 through September 2005, Ralsky and others allegedly engaged in a related set of conspiracies designed to use spam emails to manipulate thinly traded stocks and profit by trading in those stocks once their share prices increased. According to the indictment, the group falsified “headers” in the email messages, used bots to relay the spam, and also made misrepresentations in the advertising content and also used falsely registered domain names to send the spam.
[ See all News » ]