'Spam King' Ralsky ordered to jail

DETROIT, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. judge in Detroit ordered "Spam King" Alan Ralsky to spend more than four years in prison for scheming to inflate stock prices through Internet mailings.

Ralsky's attorney Steve Fishman said the sentence should take into account the nature of the crime. "These were just Chinese penny stock. It's not like they were pumping up AT&T," he said, The Detroit News reported Monday.

He also asked the judge to consider Ralsky's cooperation with authorities.

But U.S. District Judge Marianne Battani said Ralsky had a record of "two prior fraudulent schemes," that influenced her sentencing. "It seems to me that this scheme is a much more serious scheme than you would allow yourself to acknowledge," she said.

Ralsky was ordered to forfeit $250,000 for his role as the scam that involved sending out tens of millions of e-mails messages a day.

Prosecutors said Ralsky made between $400,000 and $1 million in the scam that included nine other indictments.

Ralsky said he took addresses off his mailing list by request and told the judge, "I built a business that I thought was the finest business in the world -- I still believe it is in many ways."