MONTREAL, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- An online marketer from Montreal has been fined more than $1 billion for spam messages placed on Facebook.
The judgment, delivered by a California court in absentia, was upheld by Quebec Superior Court last week, The Montreal Gazette reported Tuesday.
Adam Guerbuez maintains his innocence but told the Gazette he did not contest the suit because of the expense.
The American court fined Guerbuez $100 U.S. in damages plus $100 U.S. in punitive damages for each of the 4,366,386 spam messages Facebook said he posted on users' walls in 2008. The messages promoted drugs for erectile dysfunction and other problems.
The fines amount to $873,277,200, which equals $1,068,928,721.46 in Canadian funds under the exchange rate at the time of the judgment.
Guerbuez's lawyer argued the fines were disproportionate with what a Canadian court would have imposed, but the judge disagreed. The court also barred Guerbuez from having a Facebook account or being involved with the site in any way.
It is doubtful Facebook will collect the $1 billion. Guerbuez filed for bankruptcy in August and Facebook is one of several creditors.
