Alleged 'Seattle Spammer' arrested

Alleged spam mogul Robert Alan Soloway was arrested on Wednesday after being indicted by a federal grand jury.

The man the Washington State Office of the Attorney General has dubbed the Seattle Spammer was given an August 6 trial, during which he is set to face 35 charges related to suspected fraudulent Internet activities.

Soloway, owner of Newport Internet Marketing, was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 23 in a U.S. District Court in Seattle on 10 counts of mail fraud, 5 counts of wire fraud, 2 counts of e-mail fraud, 5 counts of aggravated identity theft and 13 counts of money laundering.

Soloway pleaded not guilty to all charges on Wednesday at his arraignment, according to court documents.

The indictment is a culmination of an investigation collaboratively conducted by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property units of the Department of Justice, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

"Spam is a scourge of the Internet, and Robert Soloway is one of its most prolific practitioners. Our investigators dubbed him the Spam King because he is responsible for millions of spam e-mails," Jeffrey Sullivan, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, said in a statement.

Soloway is being accused of operating false Web sites and more than 50 domains, through which he posed as an advertiser offering legitimate "broadcast e-mail services" with "permission-based opt-in e-mail addresses." He allegedly deceived legitimate businesses into buying marketing software and services that turned out to be spam tools. Businesses that complained were met with intimidation and threats, according to the allegations against Soloway.

The alleged spammer is also accused of creating more than 2,000 proxy computers, or botnets--computers hijacked by hackers to send spam--and of using stolen e-mail and domain names that led to others' ISP addresses being blocked and those victims accused of being originating spammers.

The trial is set to go before Judge Marsha Pechman, with a detention hearing prior to that on June 4 before Judge James Donohue. Until then, Soloway is scheduled to remain in custody.

Soloway, whose assets have been forfeited by the U.S. government, was also appointed a public defender Wednesday.

While Soloway is being charged for alleged actions between November 2003 and May 2007, he incorporated Newport Internet Marketing, or NIM, in 1998 in California. Soloway moved his organization to Oregon in 2000 and then again to Seattle in 2003, where he has been living ever since.

[bearpause]

One for the good guys...

After Russian Spammers ran one of the anti-spam groups out of business, it is great news that at least someone is taking a step to *****-slap these pond scum. This guy should be be parboiled in printer's ink and fedexed to antartica in a box with no holes, addressed to 'sasquatch k. elbowroom'.

[Thomas, David]

Wow, Good News!

I'd like all of you to join along and sing now ... Oh Happy
Day!

[WDS2]

Let him go!

Let the poor guy go. In a well publicized place at a well publicized time.

Grab your pitchforks and torches...

[devbost]

Public defender

From the Washington Post's article on the story:

>>>Soloway pleaded not guilty Wednesday afternoon to all charges after a judge determined that even with four bank accounts seized by the government he was sufficiently well off to pay for his own lawyer.

He has been living in a ritzy apartment and drives an expensive Mercedes convertible, said prosecutor Kathryn Warma. Prosecutors are seeking to have him forfeit $773,000 they say he made from his business, Newport Internet Marketing Corp.

A public defender who represented him for Wednesday's hearing declined to comment.<<<

So even though the guy has become extremely wealthy through his bad actions, he's still trying to sponge off of that which belongs to others by using a public defender instead of hiring his own attorney.

Even under a 35-count indictment, this guy still acts like rules are something that apply to others. I will watch the righteous smiting of this goon with great interest over the next few months.

[Gromit801]

Keep the PD

Oh I do hope he keeps the public defender. It will assure his going
to prison for a loooong time.

[ingber]

this is a personal attack

Yes, I see CNET's rules, but in this case a personal attack is justified. This bozo should be exterminated; I do not care how it is done.

[Stating]

Who Is SWIFT VENTURES Inc?

I keep getting Yahoo spam email for free Dell laptops, free Home Depot gift cards, free Best Buy gift cards, etc. The emails all orginate from SWIFT VENTURES Inc. of Seattle. So:

a) Why doesn't Seattle PD also shut down Swift Ventures

b) Why doesn't Yahoo Mail block emails coming from Swift's IP address block 208.99.192.0 - 208.99.223.255

[aSiriusTHoTH]

Spam out of control? Look at companies...

Do you know why spam is out of control? Its the same reason why snailmail, and commercials are out of control. Companies spend big money to have their spam emails sent and read.

People who are spamming these messages are being paid, and there are a lot of big companies paying big money to spammers to send spam messages.

You really want to cut down on spam? Go to the source and not hut down the middle men. You can put the middle man behind bars and another one pop ups.

Its just like drugs.... you want to get ride of drugs? You take out the people on the top. Because there are always people in the middle willing to jump on board.

Spam...? Look at big companies...