Notorious Spam King Busted

Noticed a lot less spam mail in your inbox lately? There's a good reason for that. A man who has been referred to as the "spam king" is behind bars. Robert Alan Soloway is considered to be one of the top 10 spammers worldwide. Thirty-five charges have been brought against 27-year-old Soloway, ranging from mail fraud to wire fraud to email fraud to money laundering and aggravated identity theft. Soloway has pled not guilty to all charges.

The senior director of Microsoft's Worldwide Internet Safety Programs, lawyer Tim Cranton, is thrilled. "This is a very good day," he said, noting that people like Soloway pose a major problem to the corporation's customers.

Soloway was living the good life, driving a Mercedes convertible and dwelling in an upscale apartment. If prosecutors have their way with him however, Soloway will be parting with the $773,000 he made, reportedly from his business, Newport Internet Marketing Corp. Soloway is accused of using "zombie computers" (so-called because the owners have no idea their PCs are infected) to propagate his millions of spam emails. And he's been doing it since 2003. Apparently the man doesn't know when to quit, having previously lost a $7 million civil judgment to Microsoft (in 2005) and a $10 million judgment to a small internet service provider based in Oklahoma.

Information from The Associated Press used in this article.