A U.S. court sentenced a Virginia man, thought to be the eighth most prolific spammer in the world, to nine years in jail, according to wire reports Friday.
Prosecutors said Jeremy Jaynes used the Internet to peddle pornography and sham products and services such as a “FedEx refund processor,” according to The Associated Press. Thousands of people fell for his scams, and prosecutors said Jaynes' operation grossed up to $750,000 a month, the AP said.
Jaynes, 30, and his sister Jessica DeGroot were convicted in a Virginia court in November of sending AOL users millions of unsolicited commercial e-mail messages with falsified routing information to evade AOL's filters. Her conviction was later dismissed by the judge. A third defendant, Richard Rutkowski, was acquitted.
Jaynes is free on bond while the case is appealed, wire reports said. The judge delayed the start of the prison term because the law is new and raises constitutional questions.
According to AP, Jaynes told the judge that regardless of how the appeal turns out, “I can guarantee the court I will not be involved in the e-mail marketing business again.”
