AOL spammer pleads guilty

Adam Vitale pled guilty Monday to sending unsolicited e-mail to 1.2 million AOL subscribers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Michael J. Garcia said.

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Vitale and co-defendant Todd Moeller, were in contact with a government confidential informant via instant messaging, and agreed to send spam advertisements for a product in exchange for half of the profits, Garcia said in a statement. The pair then sent about 1.2 million unsolicited e-mails to AOL users between August 17 and August 23, 2005. They changed the headers on the e-mails and used various computers to conceal the source of the spam.

Vitale, 26, resides in Brooklyn. Sentencing is scheduled for September 13 before U.S. District Judge Denny Chin, who presided over the criminal case, in Manhattan. He faces a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or double the maximum gain or loss resulting from the offense. Moeller, a New Jersey resident, will stand trial for the same charges.


The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.


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