The so-called Timeshare Spammer has said he will plead guilty to one count of violating the federal CAN-SPAM law by using Atlanta-based EarthLink to send millions of spam messages.
Peter Moshou told a federal court June 30 he would enter the plea, facing up to three years behind bars for his trouble, in a case in which he was accused of sending millions of spam messages involving brokerage for people to sell their timeshare rentals between 2004 and 2005.
Moshou is one of the first to be prosecuted under CAN-SPAM, which took effect in January 2004. The first conviction under the law was of Nicholas Tombros, who pleaded guilty last September to sending porn spam over unprotected wireless networks from his car.
EarthLink vigorously pursued Moshou, accusing him of falsifying "from" addresses, using deceptive subject lines, failing to identify the real sender, and failing to offer opt-out options, all violations under CAN-SPAM.
The Moshou case was EarthLink's second-highest-profile spam case. The Internet service provider previously pursued and beat the Buffalo Spammer, Howard Carmack, winning a $16.4 million judgment against him and turning evidence over to prosecutors in New York state.
Carmack eventually was convicted by an Erie County (New York) jury of identify theft and falsifying business records and was sentenced to 3.5-7 years behind bars in May 2004.
