For Release: September 5, 2006
Contact: David Clementson
Email: jtmartin@oag.state.va.us or dclementson@oag.state.va.us
Phone: 804-786-2071
Alexandria- Attorney General Bob McDonnell today announced that the Virginia Court of Appeals has affirmed Virginia’s Anti-Spam Act and rejected the appeal of convicted spammer Jeremy Jaynes. A jury in the Loudoun County Circuit Court convicted Jaynes on three counts of violating Virginia’s Anti-Spam Act in November 2004. This marked the first ever felony conviction in a SPAM case, and the case received international attention. After convicting the defendant, the same jury sentenced him to serve nine years in jail. The defendant has been seeking to overturn that conviction on appeal. Based on today’s decision, the Commonwealth will immediately ask the trial judge to lift the suspension of Jaynes’ prison sentence and order him to begin serving his 9 year sentence
Speaking about the ruling, Attorney General McDonnell remarked, “SPAM costs Virginia citizens and businesses thousands of dollars every year in lost time and resources. Online fraud is a costly and serious crime. Today’s ruling reinforces Virginia’s Anti-Spam Act, and further protects the people of the Commonwealth from identity thieves and cyber criminals.”
McDonnell continued, “I applaud our Computer Crime Unit for their work in prosecuting this case, and my predecessor Jerry Kilgore for his leadership in getting this legislation passed and the initial conviction secured. The Office of the Attorney General of Virginia will continue to lead the nation in prosecuting online criminals, and keeping the Internet safe and secure.”
Jeremy D. Jaynes was regarded as the eighth-worst Spammer in the world on The Spamhaus Project’s Registry of Known Spammer Organizations at the time of his arrest. At the time, prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Computer Crime Unit argued to the jury that Jaynes peddled his products to unsuspecting victims from around the world. His global fraud resulted in millions of dollars for him as well as a mansion and a number of homes in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Jaynes was convicted thanks to Virginia’s groundbreaking Anti-Spam Act. The Act prohibits the sending of unsolicited bulk e-mail by fraudulent means, such as changing the header or routing information to prevent recipients from contacting or knowing the identity of the sender. Such activity is punishable as a class 1 misdemeanor or as a class 6 felony if any one of the following conditions applies:
A class 6 felony is punishable by a one to five-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $2,500, or both. Virginia’s anti-SPAM legislation also includes asset forfeiture provisions to allow law enforcement authorities to seize any assets or proceeds obtained through the illegal Spam operation. It also enhances penalties for violation of Virginia obscenity laws through the sending of illegal e-mails. The legislation authorizes the Attorney General’s Computer Crime Unit to investigate and prosecute Spammers if illegal e-mails are sent to, from, or through any computer or computer network located in any Virginia locality.
To learn more about the Computer Crime Unit and Virginia’s groundbreaking anti-SPAM laws, please visit: http://www.vaag.com/CONSUMER/SPAM/index.html
To read the full court opinion, please visit:
http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opncavwp/1054054.pdf
