Judge Sentences Spammer To Nine Years

[Ajarn]

Judge Sentences Spammer to Nine Years

Apr 8, 8:38 PM (ET)

By MATTHEW BARAKAT

(AP) A photo provided by the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, shows Jeremy Jaynes in Leesburg, Va., in...

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LEESBURG, Va. (AP) - A man convicted in the nation's first felony case against illegal spamming was sentenced to nine years in prison Friday for bombarding Internet users with millions of junk e-mails.

However, Loudoun County Circuit Judge Thomas Horne delayed the start of Jeremy Jaynes' prison term while the case is appealed, saying the law is new and raises constitutional questions.

A jury had recommended the nine-year term for the Raleigh, N.C., man.

Jaynes, 30, who was considered among the top 10 spammers in the world at the time of his arrest, used the Internet to peddle pornography and sham products and services such as a "FedEx refund processor," prosecutors said. Thousands of people fell for his e-mails, and prosecutors said Jaynes' operation grossed up to $750,000 per month.

(AP) Jeremy Jaynes, left, leaves the Loudoun County Courthouse in Leesburg, Va., Friday, April 8, 2005,...

Jaynes was convicted in November for using false Internet addresses and aliases to send mass e-mail ads through an AOL server in Loudoun County, where America Online is based. Under Virginia law, sending unsolicited bulk e-mail itself is not a crime unless the sender masks his identity.

While prosecutors presented evidence of just 53,000 illegal e-mails, authorities believe Jaynes was responsible for spewing out 10 million e-mails a day. Prosecutors said Jaynes made millions of dollars from the illegal venture.

Prosecutor Lisa Hicks-Thomas said she was pleased with the ruling and confident that the law would be upheld on appeal.

But defense attorney David Oblon argued that nine years was far too long given that Jaynes was charged as an out-of-state resident with violating a Virginia law that had taken effect just weeks before. He planned to challenge both the constitutionality of the law, as well as its applicability to Jaynes.

"We have no doubt that we will win on appeal, therefore any sentence is somewhat moot. Still, the sentence is not what we recommended and we're disappointed," Oblon said outside court.

Horne said he might also reconsider the sentence if Jaynes loses the appeal.

"I do not believe a person should go to prison for a law that is invalid," he said. "There are substantial legal issues that need to be brought before the appellate court."

A judge has ruled Maryland's anti-spam law unconstitutional because it seeks to regulate commerce outside the state's borders. However, an appeals court in California and the Washington state Supreme Court have upheld state laws that had been declared unconstitutional by lower courts on grounds similar to the December ruling in Maryland.

Many states have criminal laws against spam, but Virginia's makes it easier than others for prosecutors to obtain a felony conviction, which carries more jail time than a misdemeanor, said Quinn Jalli of the online marketing firm Digital Impact.

Jaynes told the judge that regardless of how the appeal turns out, "I can guarantee the court I will not be involved in the e-mail marketing business again." He remains under $1 million bond.

The jury also convicted Jaynes's sister, Jessica DeGroot, but recommended only a $7,500 fine. Her conviction was later dismissed by the judge. A third defendant, Richard Rutkowski of Cary, N.C., was acquitted of all charges.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050409/D89BI7SO0.html

Edited April 9, 2005 by Ajarn

[penzman]

One down. How many left ?

[Phil Conners]

There are no justification for spammers. Hang him.

[Ajarn]

Did anyone notice the Sponsored Link that came up in the website copy?

[expatinasia]

The Sponsored Links were representative of the cr@p that this guy was peddling.

[cdnvic]

Judge Sentences Spammer to Nine Years

Apr 8, 8:38 PM (ET)

By MATTHEW BARAKAT

(AP) A photo provided by the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, shows Jeremy Jaynes in Leesburg, Va., in...

Enjoy jail loser! Get ready for some "unsolicited male"

Life is good when you read these things.

cv

[penzman]

[astral]

Pity it wasn't 90 years!!!

[Crushdepth]

Sucko. Nine years is not nearly long enough to be a disincentive - not if people like this can rake in that sort of cash. I can't think of anything more selfish - bunging up the whole internet and wasting the time of *millions* of people everyday.

There should be a *really* barbaric punishment for spammers. Like being smeared in pork fat and thrown into a pit full of wild dogs, or daily unsolicited insertions of fast food catalogues into unmentionable places.

Or just hang a sign around his neck and turn him loose at a geeks conference ?

[yeti]

9 years, just because he sent unsolicited emails ?

He did not kill anyone, did not rob a bank, prison seems to be a little bit too much...

And why not prosecute AOL who didn't protect well enough its servers and its data (read somewhere else that he was using a customer list from AOL).

[waldwolf]

9 years, just because he sent unsolicited emails ?

He did not kill anyone, did not rob a bank, prison seems to be a little bit  too much.....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Please explain to me, the material difference between robbing a bank and stealing $750,000 a month from a large number of unsuspecting individuals by fraud.

A bank robber would have received a minimum 20-year sentence in a Federal prison, even if the theft were as little as $500. Now this crook will use the fortune he stole to hire a bunch of lawyers, in an attempt to stay out of jail. A pox on both their houses.

And don't feel too sorry for this bum even if he does go to jail. He was tried and convicted in a state court and as is the case with most states, you only end up serving less than 1/2 the sentence, after time-off for good behavior. He'll probably be out in 3 years or less.

Oh yes......do you think any of the people he scammed will get their money back? I doubt it. (All banks have insurance to cover their theft losses.)

IMO his victims should be fully compensated, even if he has to work the rest of his life to repay them.

[cdnvic]

And why not prosecute AOL who didn't protect well enough its servers and its data (read somewhere else that he was using a customer list from AOL).

Next time a burglar takes all the possesions out of your home don't call the police, just sue the contractor for not building you a fortress.

cv

[yeti]

Please explain to me, the material difference between robbing a bank and stealing $750,000 a month from a large number of unsuspecting individuals by fraud.

From what I read in this article, and other ones, he has not been sentenced to 9 years for stealing from people, but for using false Internet addresses and aliases to send mass e-mail ads.

He may be prosecuted later for the money people lost when believing in the bullshit he sent, but that's not the reason he was sentenced to 9 years.

By the way, still from what I understand, $750,000 a month is not what he got from "unsuspecting individuals", but what companies like ProcessRefunds.com and others were paying him to send emails (few cents everytime a user click on an email sent by him).

And why not prosecute AOL who didn't protect well enough its servers and its data (read somewhere else that he was using a customer list from AOL).

Next time a burglar takes all the possesions out of your home don't call the police, just sue the contractor for not building you a fortress. blink.gif

cv

I don't know about Virginia law, but in Europe, companies have the obligation (most of them don't respect it, but they have to) to protect personal data they collect.

So if a spammer steal personal data from a company to send its bullshit, the company can be prosecuted as well for not protecting well enough personal data it has collected. I think no company has ever been prosecuted for this, but it could happen.

[Ajarn]

The Sponsored Links were representative of the cr@p that this guy was peddling.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The first sponsored link is the stuff he's convicted of peddling. Irony in action

[devildog683]

Please explain to me, the material difference between robbing a bank and stealing $750,000 a month from a large number of unsuspecting individuals by fraud.

From what I read in this article, and other ones, he has not been sentenced to 9 years for stealing from people, but for using false Internet addresses and aliases to send mass e-mail ads.

He may be prosecuted later for the money people lost when believing in the bullshit he sent, but that's not the reason he was sentenced to 9 years.

By the way, still from what I understand, $750,000 a month is not what he got from "unsuspecting individuals", but what companies like ProcessRefunds.com and others were paying him to send emails (few cents everytime a user click on an email sent by him).

And why not prosecute AOL who didn't protect well enough its servers and its data (read somewhere else that he was using a customer list from AOL).

Next time a burglar takes all the possesions out of your home don't call the police, just sue the contractor for not building you a fortress. blink.gif

cv

I don't know about Virginia law, but in Europe, companies have the obligation (most of them don't respect it, but they have to) to protect personal data they collect.

So if a spammer steal personal data from a company to send its bullshit, the company can be prosecuted as well for not protecting well enough personal data it has collected. I think no company has ever been prosecuted for this, but it could happen.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

pretty sure its the same in VA

[ChiangMaiThai]

How could anyone be happy that someone is going to jail for 9 years for sending SPAM? You've all been here in LOS way too long. Maybe I could understand celebrating if it was a big fine. But this is over the top.

[Ajarn]

Jaynes, 30, who was considered among the top 10 spammers in the world at the time of his arrest, used the Internet to peddle pornography and sham products and services such as a "FedEx refund processor," prosecutors said. Thousands of people fell for his e-mails, and prosecutors said Jaynes' operation grossed up to $750,000 per month.

I guess I'm happy about his sentence, too. If he was only sending 10 million innocuous Spams each day, I would agree with CMT, but it seems it was much worse than that.

[yeti]

If he was only sending 10 million innocuous Spams each day, I would agree with CMT

He has been judged only for this: sending millions of emails using false aliases.

If he had been prosecuted, along with Processrefunds.com and owners of other crook websites, using, for example, anti organized crime laws, and then condemned to life in jail, then I would have understood (and even agreed, but nobody cares if we agree ).

But (from what I've read), he has been sentenced to 9 years only for sending spam, not because of the content of the spam. And that seems a lot to me.

Oh yes......do you think any of the people he scammed will get their money back? I doubt it.

I suppose that after this there will be a civil action from people who lost some money, and some of them will get their money back. If prosecutors know how much money he was making for one day, I suppose they also know where the money is.

For those who won't get their money back, that's the price of experience... (copyright: my girlfriend when I got scammed here ).

[britmaveric]

Ask my mailbox if 9years isn't enough. I think this is good work - perhaps if SPAMMERS realize jail is in their future perhaps they will stop.

[Ajarn]

But (from what I've read), he has been sentenced to 9 years only for sending spam, not because of the content of the spam. And that seems a lot to me.

Yes, that's true, and a valid point that his lawyers will surely argue...

Maybe they should have figured the costs involved (server time, badwidth costs, tech time, consumer time, etc...) and fined him for that instead of the jail time. Bet they could come up with some BIG numbers...

[Crushdepth]

Every day spammers waste a large chunk of my time. They are screwing up the productivity of the whole planet out of pure selfishness, reducing the availability of many critical services, the people that provide them and the peope that depend on them. The world is a worse place for spammers.

Its not just the pure selfishness that bothers me, it is also the gross stupidity of these people. I haven't responded to the last 15,000 Nigerian scam spams. How hard would be to write a script to dump non-responding adresses from your spam list ? How intelligent is it for the same spammer to send you five "I am Prince Wahubu from gonnagiveyoumoneyland" on the same day,every day ?

I hope this guy is anally retentive and gets to share a cell with a very well endowed Prince Wahubu from Superschlongland'.

All that said, governments and ISPs should take spamming a bit more seriously and start rooting the bastards out. How hard could it be not to notice 10 million messages a day ?

This guy is also being done for fraud.

Edited April 11, 2005 by Crushdepth

[bkk_mike]

If he'd sent the emails giving his own email address, he wouldn't be going to jail.

He sent millions of emails that said he was someone else. If he'd tried that using regular mail, he'd have been jailed for mail fraud a long time ago. What's so different about using email, apart from the fact that it was cheaper for him to send emails...

The guy has made a lot of money from doing something that is illegal. Nothing wrong with jail for him.

[cobra]

Unfortunately, he's now already a multi-millionaire,

Like other white crime, his legal team we'll manage to keep him out of jail, or to a token amount at a minimal security facility, with the likes of Martha Stewarts, Enron CEOs, etc.

80 years ago they would have tarred and feathered him, they should bring that back ....

[Dead_Elvis]

Unfortunately, he's now already a multi-millionaire,

Like other white crime, his legal team we'll manage to keep him out of jail, or to a token amount at a minimal security facility, with the likes of Martha Stewarts, Enron CEOs, etc.

80 years ago they would have tarred and feathered him, they should bring that back ....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Tar is hard on the environment. Honey, an anthill and some rope will be good enough you think?

[yeti]

He sent millions  of emails that said he was someone else.

I've been looking for more information on this subject, and he was prosecuted for sending more than 100 000 spam emails between july and august 2003, including 3 days during which he sent more than 10 000 email in 24 hours. Both cases are a felony in Virginia.

He has also been prosecuted for faking his identity (also a felony).

(that's only emails sent through servers in Virginia, which is the state where AOL and others ISP have their head office)

And for all this he has been condemned to 3 times 3 years in jail (a total of 9 years) by a jury last december.

The sentence has been confirmed by the judge Thomas D Horne this week, but this guy is still free on bail, waiting for more information about the constitutionality of the Virginian antispam law.

If even a judge has doubts on this law, I guess Jaynes won't spend a long time in jail.

Looking through few articles, I've seen he has been condemned to 9 years, but didn't read anything about a fine. It seems surprising to me

Edited April 12, 2005 by yeti