http://www.spamsuite.com/node/343

Alan Ralsky has apparently been before the bar but is not yet enjoying complete Federal hospitality (he was released on $50k bail).

Actually follows on to http://forum.spamcop.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9055, but I thought it was worth spawing a new thread just to get a new headline.

-- rick

He's not on the run somewhere in Europe then. The popular press is so unreliable, thanks for the link to a more professional source.

Not to say he won't skip bail, but he seems a bit old to be playing D.B. Cooper.

One of his partners-in-crime did manage to get a dispensation from the court: she was allowed to leave Michigan to travel to LA to visit her granddaughter ("Granny, are you really going to the big house?").

-- rick

Ralsky confidant agrees to rat out notorious spam gang
A woman accused of aiding notorious spam kingpin Alan Ralsky in a relentless junkmail torrent has admitted to sending tens of millions spam messages and agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of her boss. A second defendant is expected to plead guilty on Friday.

Judy M. Devenow, 56, of Lansing, Michigan, pleaded guilty to felony fraud and conspiracy charges, according to documents filed in US District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan. She was arrested in January and along with Ralsky and nine others, was indicted for involvement in a "sophisticated and extensive" spamming operation that netted some $3m. Prosecutors say the gang used botnets to relay millions of junk messages each day during a 20-month period.

In a plea agreement filed Tuesday, Devenow said that from January 2004 to September 2005 she transmitted or caused to be transmitted tens of millions of spams with fraudulent headers that disguised the origin of the messages. The spam was part of an aggressive pump and dump campaign that promoted thinly traded stock in Chinese companies with tickers including CDGT, WWBP, CWTD and PGCN. Devenow personally sent some of the messages and managed others who did the same.
.....
So far nine of the defendants in the case have pleaded not guilty. Trial has not been scheduled.