Timothy Livingston, 31, used spam to net him more than a million buck but also netted him 48 months in jail.

He pleaded guilty to counts of conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with computers and access devices, conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with electronic mail, and aggravated identity theft.

Livingston operated a business called 'A Whole Lot of Nothing LLC' which sent out bulk emails for clients.

"Livingston's clients included legitimate businesses – such as insurance companies that wished to send bulk emails to advertise their businesses – as well as illegal entities, such as online pharmacies that sold narcotics without prescriptions," the US Department of Justice said.

What his clients did not know was that Livingston operated an arsenal of botnet-controlled accounts and compromised servers which allowed his spam to bypass filters. He made his money when one of his junk mail messages was converted to a sale.

Livingston's codefendant, Tomasz Chmielarz of New Jersey, also admitted writing the malware used to infect and control the botnets.

Part of the sentence also requires Livingston to forfeit the $1.35m in ill-gotten gains.

Source: The Register