A Hong Kong resident known as the “Godfather of Spam” has been sentenced to prison in the US due to his involvement in an email stock fraud scheme.
According to the US Justice Department, How Wai John Hui was sentenced to 51 months in prison for wire fraud, money laundering and conspiring to commit wire fraud, mail fraud in order to violate the Spam Act.
Hui, who was former chief executive of China World Trade, also agreed to give $US500,000 to the US. Additionally, Alan Ralsky, Scott Bradley and John Brown were also sentenced.
“Today’s sentencing sends a powerful message to spammers whose goal is to manipulate financial transactions and the stock market through illegal email advertisements,” assistant attorney-general Lanny Breuer said in a statement.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
