The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle Tuesday wasn't as harsh as the nine-year term prosecutors had hoped for, but Pechman nevertheless said she was making an example of Robert Soloway, 28, to deter other "spammers," the Seattle Times reported.

Soloway was also ordered to forfeit $708,000 gained from his use of unsolicited e-mails known as spam. During a three-day hearing, Pechman found that Soloway used mass e-mail marketing in an effort to perpetrate fraud, and that he also violated the three-year-old CAN-SPAM Act, which Congress enacted to criminalize such bulk commercial e-mails, the newspaper said.

"I built my entire life around a facade," Soloway told the court. "I'm very embarrassed and I'm ashamed."