Overheard: Even spammers have to pay taxes

“I built my entire life around a facade. I’m very embarrassed and I’m ashamed.” Robert Soloway, as quoted in Spammer sentenced to 47 months in prison

The Zombie “Spam King” is going to jail for four years and has to pay over $700,000 in restitution.  It wasn’t the CAN-SPAM act that got him. Like Al Capone before him, Soloway was busted for failing to pay taxes. Soloway, who already had a $7 million judgement against him from Microsoft and a $10 million judgement against him from an ISP in Oklahoma,  pleaded guilty to mail fraud, fraud in electronic mail and failure to file a tax return. 

Ironically, the spam this guy sent out was all about how to send spam. His company’s name? Newport Internet Marketing. For $495, Soloway’s customers could have an ad sent to 20,000,000 e-mail addresses. He also sold $150 software for sending out unsolicited bulk email.