Former Spam Kingpin Pleads Guilty

Former notorious spammer and stock fraudster Alan Ralsky, 64, of West Bloomfield, Michigan, pleaded guilty in a Detroit U.S. District Court on Monday for orchestrating a pump-and-dump stock scheme that involved sending millions of spam emails. His son-in-law, Scott K. Bradley, 47, also of West Bloomfield, along with three other co-conspiritors, also entered plea agreements in connection with the same illegal operation.

Alan Ralsky, who was at the top of the "The 10 Worst Spammers" list maintained by the Spamhaus project, back in November 2005, faces up to 87 months in prison and a $1 million fine. Meanwhile, his right-hand, Scott K. Bradley, faces 78 months of imprisonment and a similar fine.

During 2004 and 2005, Ralsky led a spam ring that promoted, via unsolicited bulk emails, the stock of several Chinese companies, such as CDGT, WWBP, CWTD and PGCN, in order to artificially inflate their value. The gang then proceeded to selling their share, netting illegal profits of millions of dollars.

Alan Ralsky and ten other people involved in the operation were indicted in January 2008. The first to plead guilty back in October 2008 was Judy M. Devenow, 56, of Lansing, Michigan. In exchange for a prison sentence recommendation of 15 to 21 months, she admitted to personally sending spam e-mails for Ralsky. Part of her agreement was to testify against the other defendants in this case.

The three other people who entered plea agreements along with Ralsky and Bradley are John S. Bown, 45, of Fresno, California, who faces 63 months in prison and a $75,000 fine, William C. Neil, 46, also of Fresno, facing up to 37 months in prison and a $30,000 fine and James E. Fite, 36, of Culver City, California, facing two years of imprisonment and a $30,000 fine.

All of the defendants pleaded guilty to violating the CAN-SPAM Act and various counts of wire fraud, money laundering, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit computer fraud. "We will not allow criminals to use e-mail as a conduit for fraud. This prosecution, the Department's largest to date under the CAN-SPAM Act, underscores our strong and steadfast commitment to ridding our financial markets and cyberspace of e-fraudsters looking to prey on innocent victims," Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer commented.

Joseph A. Pirone, U.S. postal inspector in charge, noted that, "Today marks a victory for all those who entrust their money to others within the U.S. economy." Dmitry Samosseiko, manager of SophosLabs Canada, also welcomed the news and thinks that it represents the end of an era. "It's good to see anti-spam laws like the CAN-SPAM Act being put to use," he concluded.