Spam King Robert Alan Soloway arrested in Seattle

US investigators have arrested a person in Seattle, described as the Spam King, because he was responsible for millions of spam messages. The person has been indicted on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, fraud in connection with electronic mail, and money laundering.

Robert Alan Soloway, who owned Newport Internet Marketing Corporation (NIM) in Seattle, appeared before Seattle's district court.

Soloway is accused of offering broadcast email services which sent messages with false headers and were relayed using networks of proxy computers or botnets between 2003 and 2007. He is also accused of constantly changing his websites, to make the anti-spam measure more difficult to catch.

The false headers he has been accused of putting on emails led many mailers to have their domains or legitimate email address blacklisted as spam mails by anti-spam groups.

The investigators are seeking USD 772,000, which Soloway is supposed to have made as a result of his activities. The Federal State commission had received lots of complaints against Soloway and NIM. His activities could earn him a $250,000 fine and five years in prison.