'Spam king' could face criminal charges in Facebook case
Sanford Wallace in 1997, around the time he dubbed himself the king of spam.
(Credit: CNET News)In a move that could land Sanford Wallace in jail if convicted, a federal judge on Friday referred a lawsuit Facebook filed against the "spam king" to the U.S. Attorney's office for possible criminal proceedings.
A written ruling from Judge Jeremy Fogel in U.S. District in San Jose, Calif., is expected early next week, a court clerk said. The action came at a hearing on a Facebook motion that Wallace be found in criminal contempt for allegedly continuing to send spam on Facebook.
Facebook sued Sanford and two others in February alleging they used phishing sites or other means to fraudulently gain access to Facebook accounts and used them to distribute phishing spam throughout the network.
The judge had earlier entered a preliminary injunction against Wallace for failing to appear in court for the original proceedings, said Sam O'Rourke, Facebook's lead counsel for litigation and intellectual property. Wallace appeared in court on Friday in what is believed to be his first court appearance in any of the cases filed against him, according to O'Rourke.
Facebook also had asked for a default judgment in the case, but the judge was prevented from taking action on that since Wallace filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday and civil actions seeking monetary sanctions are automatically stayed when a defendant files for bankruptcy, O'Rourke said. Facebook believes Wallace filed for bankruptcy to avoid a default judgment and criminal contempt order, he said.
Facebook plans to ask the bankruptcy court to lift the stay so a ruling can be made on the default judgment to become a creditor, O'Rourke said.
"We're very pleased Judge Jeremy Fogel agreed that there were grounds for criminal contempt and that the U.S. Attorney's office should investigate Wallace," Facebook said in an e-mail statement. "Wallace filed for bankruptcy, which is not unexpected and only delays our judgment temporarily. We will continue to pursue the judgment and will be reviewing his filing very closely."
The order should serve as a strong deterrent against spammers, Facebook said. "Fogel's ruling demonstrates that judges will enforce restraining orders and spammers who violate them face criminal prosecution" the statement said.
A year ago, Wallace and another defendant were ordered to pay MySpace.com $234 million following a trial at which Wallace repeatedly failed to turn over documents or even show up in court.
In the largest judgment in history for a case brought under the Can-Spam Act, the federal court in San Jose awarded Facebook $873 million in damages late last year against a Canadian man accused of spamming users of the site.
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor. 
If every single person was able to ignore every single spam offer, the problem would quickly disappear. Unfortunately, that is more fantasy than reality. :(
Stupid people ruin it for everyone.
Probably around 20 spam to 1 legit email, but thankfully BT filters most of that out. Of the filtered **** I run the risk that some of that is real. Hence I do NOT respond to Spam BUT it's causing me pain. Stupid remarks like 'ignore it' aren't worth breath... Hang em high I say.
No what is odd is your inability to follow a simple argument.
Spammers don't target specific people, they spam every address they have, and then some.
Do you really think companies would pay them to spam if no one was buying?
Lock Up his A** let some BIG BOY name Bruce take care of him!!! Lmao sorry for yo "BEHIND" Sanford.
We know you'll call a fair trial but for the love of God put him away!
These guys need to be taught a hard lesson (15 yrs no parole).
Have a great day...food for thought!
By your logic, sending an unsolicited email to a friend is "theft of resources/services" (time, technical and hardware resources).
That is without any spam filtering on my mail server.
Create fake hotmail accounts to sign up for stuff online, especially those you think will sell your info, and your real email stays fairly free of spam.
- by GaryG7 July 8, 2009 7:58 PM PDT
- I had a problem with his company back in 1997. It sent out spam for a customer and used my e-mail address as the return address. Nobody took me seriously until I figured out Sanford's e-mail address and started sending e-mails to him. They claimed that they got rid of their customer because of the return address. (They claimed that he provided the return e-mail address to them.)
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(22 Comments)Based on my experience and what Facebook alleges, I think this guy should be tossed in Guantanamo.