San Francisco - A Las Vegas man pleaded guilty to sending more than 27 million unsolicited messages through Facebook servers after gaining access to about 500 000 accounts on the social network, according to prosecutors.
Sanford Wallace, 47, known as the “Spam King”, admitted to his mass spamming in 2008 and 2009 while pleading guilty on Monday to fraud and criminal contempt, San Francisco US Attorney Melinda Haag said in a statement.
Wallace also admitted that he violated a court order to not access Facebook’s computer network, according to the statement.
He was released on bond and is scheduled to be sentenced on December 7 by US District Judge Edward J. Davila in San Jose. He faces as long as three years in prison plus a $250 000 fine.
Wallace’s lawyer, William Burns, didn’t immediately return a call after hours seeking comment on the plea.
The case is US vs Wallace, 11-cr-00456, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).
BLOOMBERG