‘Spam king’ pleads guilty to fraud

A man once described as one of the world’s top e-mail spammers pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and failure to file a tax return.

Robert Alan Soloway, 29, was dubbed “the spam king” by prosecutors who said he used networks of compromised computers to send out millions upon millions of junk e-mails since 2003.

Soloway was arrested last summer and charged in a 40-count indictment. He agreed to plead guilty to the three charges and the rest were dropped, including e-mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and numerous other counts of mail and wire fraud.

Prosecutors said Soloway made hundreds of thousands of dollars from his spamming business, Newport Internet Marketing Corp. When Soloway is sentenced in June, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman will determine how much restitution he must pay.

The government has seized at least four of his bank accounts, and Soloway has agreed to take a polygraph test to answer questions about his remaining assets. He could face 20 years in prison.