Seattle spammer Robert Alan Soloway arrested

01 June 2007

Mumbai: Police have arrested Robert Alan Soloway, known as the ''Seattle Spamer'' after being indicted by a federal grand jury on may 31.

Soloway, owner of Newport Internet Marketing, was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 23 in a US district court in Seattle on 10 counts of mail fraud, 5 counts of wire fraud, 2 counts of e-mail fraud, 5 counts of aggravated identity theft and 13 counts of money laundering.

Soloway pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment, according to court documents.

The attorney general''s office has given Soloway an August 6 trial, during which he will face 35 charges related to suspected fraudulent internet activities.

The investigations were coordinated by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit, the US Postal Inspection Service, and the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property units of the Department of Justice, according to the U.S. Attorney''s office.

"Spam is a scourge of the internet, and Robert Soloway is one of its most prolific practitioners. Our investigators dubbed him the `Spam King'' because he is responsible for millions of spam e-mails," Jeffrey Sullivan, US attorney for Washington district, said in a statement.
Soloway, allegedly, is operating false web sites and more than 50 domains, through which he posed as an advertiser offering legitimate "broadcast e-mail services" with "permission-based opt-in e-mail addresses."