Spam King agrees to settlement with NY State.
High-profile email marketer Scott Richter, aka the ‘Spam King’, has agreed to pay $40,000 in settlement of a lawsuit brought against him by the State of New York – a mere drop in the ocean compared to the $20 million judgement NY State has initially sought.
Richter, who also agreed to pay $10,000 in investigative costs, has promised to keep records of his business and make them available to the attorney general, but – despite agreeing to the settlement – he still denies any violations of the law on his part.
While, back in December 2003,
NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said
: “We will drive [spammers] into bankruptcy, and therefore others will not come into the marketplace to take their place,” the $40,000 settlement is unlikely to be of serious financial concern to Richter and his company OptInRealBig.com.
In a
statement
following the settlement Spitzer chose to focus on Richter’s agreement to be open with his business records: “This settlement holds Richter and his company to a new standard of accountability in their delivery of emails,” said Spitzer. “If he does not fulfill these standards, he will find himself back in court, facing greater penalties.”
Meanwhile, Richter turns his attention to the other legal battles in which he is currently involved – including his own action
against SpamCop
, arguments over trademarks with
Hormel Foods
and being sued by Microsoft (which, Richter will have noted, was recently awarded a
$4 million judgement
against another spammer).
Posted on 22 July 2004 by
Virus Bulletin
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