Fergie's Tech Blog

Woman is First to Plead Guilty in Notorious Spam Case

Robert McMillan writes on ComputerWorld:

A woman accused of helping spam kingpin Alan Ralsky send out tens of millions of unwanted e-mail messages each day has pleaded guilty to spam charges.

Judy Devenow pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges Tuesday in federal court in Michigan. She was arrested in January and charged with participating in a complex pump-and-dump stock scam that artificially inflated the prices of Chinese penny stocks.

With her guilty plea, Devenow has agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice as it pursues its case against 10 other people, including Ralsky, who were allegedly involved in the scam. "She felt it was in her best interest to dispose of this case in this way and not go through a trial," said her attorney, Richard Zuckerman, of Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn.

Devenow is facing 33 to 41 years in prison on the charges, but the sentence could be reduced if the government feels she has fully cooperated, he said.

posted by Fergie @ 10/16/2008 11:31:00 AM