America Online has won a $5.6-million award against a Minnesota man who sent billions of spam e-mails in 2003 selling everything from Viagra to online college degrees.
America Online has won a $5.6-million award against a Minnesota man who sent billions of spam e-mails in 2003 selling everything from Viagra to online college degrees.
Christopher William Smith, 25, was ordered to pay $5.3 million, or $25,000 for every day he spammed, plus $287,059 for America Online’s legal fees by U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton in Alexandria, VA.
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America Online first sued Smith in 2003 under Virginia law, and then again in 2005 to take advantage of the federal Can-Spam Act.
A spokesman for AOL, Nicholas Graham, reportedly called Smith “the poster child for the Can-Spam Act.”
Smith is currently in a Minnesota jail awaiting trial on charges that he broke federal drug laws while running an online pharmacy.
