mc_squared Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 US jails 'godfather of spam' for over four years Alan Ralsky used a botnet to spam computers to manipulated the stock market. By Nicole Kobie, 25 Nov 2009 at 12:43 A US court has sentenced the so-called "godfather of spam" to over four years in prison, sending down three co-conspirators as well. Alan M. Ralsky, 64, was accused of using spam sent via a botnet to defraud the stock market by promoting "pink sheet" shares using false information. "Through this conspiracy Ralsky and the others were able to manipulate the stock market and maximise their profit," said FBI agent Andrew G. Arena, in a statement. "They flooded our e-mail boxes with unwanted spam e-mail and attempted to use a botnet to hijack our computers [to] assist them in the scheme," Arena added. Ralsky was sentenced to 51 months in prison for a stock fraud scheme involving bulk spamming. He must also serve a five-year suspended sentence and forfeit $250,000 seized by authorities. "With today’s 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 US Attorney Terrence Berg for the Eastern District of Michigan in a statement from the Department of Justice. Ralsky's co-spammer and son-in-law Scott Bradley faces 40 months in prison and pays back $250,000, while Chinese-Canadian How Wai John Hui was also given a 51 month sentence and pays $500,000. Californian John Brown was given a 32 month sentence and ordered to pay $120,000. Microsoft's role Microsoft claimed some credit for the convictions. "Microsoft’s Internet Safety Enforcement Team became aware of Ralsky’s network in 2004 and documented evidence of spam e-mails and botnets used to advance “pump and dump” stock manipulation schemes," wrote Tim Cranton, Microsoft's Associate General Counsel, in a blog post. "Microsoft turned the evidence over to the Department of Justice and supported the government’s three-year investigation," he added. The three-year case was investigated by the FBI, US Postal Inspection Servce, Internal Revenue Service, and the US Securities and Exchange Comission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aleluvscp Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 The man's got quite some talent then:lol: My respects! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc_squared Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 The man's got quite some talent then:lol: My respects! Apparently he taught Albie all he knows!!:P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HorrificAttack Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Should I report you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobalt Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Yes, you most definitely should, even if just for lulz. Also, I like how Microsoft came out to say "we helped in this case, we so good!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aleluvscp Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Teehee! Em... nice sig *hopes a certain someone doesn't see this insignificant post* See? This is why Mark is just too awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc_squared Posted November 27, 2009 Author Share Posted November 27, 2009 Teehee! Em... nice sig *hopes a certain someone doesn't see this insignificant post* See? This is why Mark is just too awesome. :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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