Web Security News

'Spam king' facing criminal charges for violating Facebook restraining order

Monday, June 15, 2009

A lawsuit by Facebook against the self-proclaimed "spam king," Sanford Wallace, has been referred to federal prosecutors for possible criminal charges for violation of a restraining order.

Wallace was ordered not to access Facebook as part of a civil suit seeking damages for his alleged involvement in phishing attacks on the 200 million-member social networking site.

A California district court judge ordered the case to be referred to the U.S. attorney Friday during a hearing on a Facebook motion that Wallace be found in criminal contempt for allegedly continuing to send spam on the site, CNET News reported.

"We're very pleased Judge Jeremy Fogel agreed that there were grounds for criminal contempt and that the U.S. attorney's office should investigate Wallace," Facebook told CNET in an email. "Wallace filed for bankruptcy, which is not unexpected and only delays our judgment temporarily. We will continue to pursue the judgment and will be reviewing his filing very closely."

Facebook sued Wallace and two others in February claiming they violated the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM) and won a restraining order in March banning them from the site.

Sam O'Rourke, a member of the Facebook legal team, said in a blog post at the time that "any contact these spammers have with you or anyone on Facebook could land them in jail."
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