Digital Trends

Seattle-based spam king Robert Soloway pleaded guilty to three counts in U.S. District Court, including email fraud.

Seattle's notorious "spam king" Robert Soloway has plead guilty to three charges in U.S. District Court in Seattle today, including fraud, email fraud, and failing to file a tax return. The fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years; the email fraud charge has a maximum sentence of five years, while failing to file an income tax return might net Soloway another year.

Soloway was arrested in May 2007 and originally faced more than 30 charges, including identity theft and money laundering, and was widely reviled as one off the most egregious spammers on the Internet. Soloway used botnets to distribute untold billions off spam messages, and concealed his activities behind bogus sites set up via overseas registrars. Authorities believe Soloway raked in more than $1 million by convincing unwitting businesses they were hiring a legitimate online marketing company, as well as engaging in illegal business practices. When arrested, Soloway claimed to have no money, but in pleading guilty to not filing an income tax return, admitted to earning $309,000 in 2005.

Soloway's pleading to a handful of charges may indicate he had made a deal with prosecutors, trading information on the operations of high-level spammers and botnet operators in exchange for reduced charges and/or leniency in sentencing.

Earlier in Soloway's spamming career, he was sued by Microsoft and in 2005 ordered to pay some $7.8 million in damages for spamming MSN and Hotmail addresses. Also in 2005, Soloway was successfully sued by an Oklahoma ISP and ordered to pay an additional $10 million in damages.