"Spam King" to be Sentenced Monday
Seattle PI:
The lineup of people to testify in the sentencing of the 28-year-old so-called King of Spam is so long that it will require an unusual two-day hearing beginning Friday in federal court.
Robert Alan Soloway, only the second person to be convicted of criminal spamming under the 2004 "Can-Spam" law, pleaded guilty in March to single counts of mail and e-mail fraud, and to tax evasion.
The plea was entered 10 days before his trial was to begin on 37 more counts, including multiple counts of those crimes as well as wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.
In the government's sentencing memorandum filed Monday, Soloway is said to stand out "worldwide for the volume and markedly malicious nature of his criminal spamming activity; the fraudulent 'spam promotion' sales scheme associated with it; and for brazen and even boastful claims that he is above the law and anyone -- even federal judges -- who would dare attempt to seek his compliance with it."
U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman is expected to sentence Soloway following the conclusion of testimony slated for Monday.
Robert Alan Soloway, only the second person to be convicted of criminal spamming under the 2004 "Can-Spam" law, pleaded guilty in March to single counts of mail and e-mail fraud, and to tax evasion.
The plea was entered 10 days before his trial was to begin on 37 more counts, including multiple counts of those crimes as well as wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.
In the government's sentencing memorandum filed Monday, Soloway is said to stand out "worldwide for the volume and markedly malicious nature of his criminal spamming activity; the fraudulent 'spam promotion' sales scheme associated with it; and for brazen and even boastful claims that he is above the law and anyone -- even federal judges -- who would dare attempt to seek his compliance with it."
U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman is expected to sentence Soloway following the conclusion of testimony slated for Monday.
I predict something more towards the defendant's end of the range. At least, that's what I would do.
Soloway seems to have some history, and probably made some (internet) statements that indicate a cavalier attitude towards the courts, but it didn't seem like the govt.'s claims in this particular case were that strong. (I think the court may consider facts outside the case in sentencing.) The argument by Soloway's lawyers distinguishing between spam and other harmful internet activity is persuasive.
At the end of the day, ten years seems like an awful lot for sending spam. Particularly where the law has been in flux, spam is often defined by the changing rules of the ISPs, and many spammers have changed their conduct in response to the laws (most successful ones have gotten "more compliant").
I don't understand this article. Soloway pleaded guilty to a bunch of serious charges including mail fraud and tax evasion as well as fraud under CAN SPAM. His misdeeds are not debatable technical violations; he sold utterly bogus spamming software and service to naive small businesses, who found that not only did they lose money directly since he never provided refunds, but their online reputations were ruined and often their ISPs canceled their accounts.
I explained a lot of this in court on Friday. His lawyer's cross examination seemed very weak to me, e.g., he asked whether a CD with a million opt-in addresses and 200 million scraped addresses would contain opt-in addresses. Aw, come on. This guy is a crook, and the heavy penalties in fraud laws are intended for people who do what he did.
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