EarthLink Evidence Leads to Criminal Conviction in ‘Timeshare Spammer’ Case (News Release)   - 2,101 Views,

Prosecution among the first under the federal CAN-SPAM Act

ATLANTA, June 30 /PRNewswire/ — EarthLink’s investigation of
Peter Moshou, aka the “Timeshare Spammer,” has resulted in
Moshou pleading guilty today to violating the CAN-SPAM Act on a federal charge
brought by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. EarthLink
worked with federal law enforcement to provide evidence against Moshou after
naming the north Florida resident as a defendant in a civil lawsuit filed in
January. The criminal prosecution is among the first under the federal CAN-
SPAM Act.

According to EarthLink’s lawsuit, Moshou sent millions of unsolicited
commercial e-mails throughout 2004 and 2005 seeking personal information by
offering brokerage services for people interested in selling their timeshares.
EarthLink’s lawsuit charged Moshou with CAN-SPAM violations including
falsifying the “from” field in e-mail addresses (spoofing), using deceptive
subject lines, failing to identify the sender and failing to provide an
electronic unsubscribe option, among other violations. The lawsuit’s charges
also included violations of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the
Georgia Computer Systems Protection Act and state and federal racketeering
laws, among others.

The following statement can be attributed to Larry Slovensky, EarthLink’s
assistant general counsel:
“Today’s criminal conviction of the “Timeshare Spammer” shows that legal
action against spammers continues to be an effective weapon in our arsenal to
fight illegal Internet activity. EarthLink remains committed to working with
law enforcement to bring spammers to justice and to continuing the fight
against spam through legal action, technical solutions, legislative support
and consumer education. We applaud the U.S. Attorney for successfully
prosecuting the case against Moshou, and we’re pleased that EarthLink’s
evidence against him, including our evidence of his CAN-SPAM violations, has
proven useful in slamming the door on this spammer.”

The Moshou guilty plea marks the second time that EarthLink’s evidence has
been used to convict a spammer on criminal charges. Last year, EarthLink’s
pursuit of “Buffalo Spammer” Howard Carmack resulted in Carmack’s criminal
conviction by the New York Attorney General’s office. In 2003, EarthLink won a
$16.4 million judgment and injunctive relief against Carmack in U.S. District
Court of Atlanta.