It's an old adage, but crime doesn't pay – at least it doesn't for most of those with criminal leanings. Moreover, it certainly hasn't paid for 'Godfather of Spam' Alan Ralsky, who was this week slapped with more than four years in prison for his part in a high-profile stock scam conducted via e-mail.
Yuck. But probably nicer than prison food, eh? Image: mrdodgy/Flickr.
Sentenced to a total of 51 months behind bars by a federal judge in Detroit, the 64-year-old resident of West Bloomfield, Michigan, will also lose the $250,000 USD that was seized by government officials when the stock scam was busted in December 2007.
And, rubbing yet more salt into Ralsky's wounds, the attending judge ordered the Godfather of Spam to suffer the indignation of five years of probation once his jail time has been served.
The Chinese penny stock scam that finally brought Ralsky down emerged in the early part of 2004 and involved the highly lucrative dispatch of billions of illegal ads designed to increase stock prices. Between the spring of 2004 and summer of 2005, Ralsky and his fellow scammers pulled in almost $3 million USD of ill-gotten gains.
The judge's gavel of justice also fell upon Ralsky's son-in-law Scott Bradley (48), who was sentenced to a slightly more lenient 40 months of porridge alongside five years of probation. The former CEO of China World Trade, How Wai John Hui, was struck with 51 months of pokey and the forfeit of $500,000 USD for his role in the scam.
According to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Ralsky was convicted of conspiring to commit wire fraud, violating the CAN-SPAM Act, and engaging in money laundering. The notorious spammer's run of online scams dates back to 1997, during which time he reportedly sent somewhere in the region of 70 million emails a day.
Interested in a more interactive TTH? Join our Facebook Group Want regular updates from The Tech Herald? Follow us on Twitter
Advertising
Comment on this Story