Scott Richter fought the law (in this case, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer) and the law plus Bill Gates won, sort of—the OptInRealBig.com mastermind, citing a costly legal battle with Microsoft over his reputed spam activities, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection March 25.
OptInRealBig.com will continue operating under Chapter 11, according to the company's attorney and Richter's father, Steven Richter. "It's the legal fees that are battering the company," the elder Richter told reporters, saying OptInRealBig.com would be profitable if not for facing litigation from Microsoft and others in Colorado, California, Utah, and Washington state.
Microsoft, which accuses OptInRealBig.com of a massive spam operation and presence, applauded the bankruptcy filing. "Microsoft and the state of New York said we would drive him into bankruptcy, and together we have," said Microsoft Internet safety enforcement attorney Aaron Kornblum in a statement. "The kind of spam Mr. Richter was sending was not only annoying, it was illegal, and the law sets out penalties for this kind of illegal activity."
Washington state has yet to determine just how illegal OptInRealBig.com e-mail messages have been, according to the Richters.
Microsoft sued the company in 2003 in hand with Spitzer, seeking close to $40 million in damages, and Scott Richter refused to settle out of court. "They asked if we wanted to settle with them, and we told them where they could go stick it," he told the Denver Post at the time—but he eventually settled with Spitzer's office in July 2004, for $50,000.
He lost no bravado over it. "At the end of the day, we're still in business," he said after the Spitzer settlement. "They said they were going to bankrupt us."
The OptInRealBig.com bankruptcy filing claimed assets under $10 million and debts over $50 million, including $46 million Microsoft seeks in litigation after first seeking $19 million, according to Steven Richter. A court has given OptInRealBig.com—whose filing did not include "the usual financial details and other information that typically accompanies Chapter 11 filings," according to the Post—until April 11 to finish the filing.
