Alan Ralsky, 64, of West Bloomfield, Michigan, who reportedly used spam to manipulate stock prices in order to make a profit, was sentenced to 51 months in prison in U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Monday. Ralsky is claimed to be one of the most notorious U. S.-based spammers.

A statement issued by the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) specified that back in June, Ralsky was found guilty of conspiring to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and violating the CAN-SPAM act.

The anti-spam organization Spamhaus has long been pointing finger at Ralsky for sending spam using hacked computers.

Ralsky, who was sued by Verizon for sending unauthorized bulk mail on its networks, addressed himself as "Godfather of Spam". Apart from this, the accused had plenty of other run-ins with the law, including a 1995 conviction for felony bank fraud.

The latest case concentrates on the activities of Ralsky and several others who sent batches of spam that tried to persuade people to buy thinly traded stocks in order get the stock prices to rise. The scheme dubbed as a pump-and-dump scam enables the perpetrators to quickly sell the stock for a profit, while leaving the new investors at a loss when the price predictably falls down.

Ralsky pushed spam to promote U. S. companies which could turn into customers. These companies were owned and controlled by people in Hong Kong and China and the U. S. Department of Justice said that falsified header information was contained in the spam, which sent it from proxy computers.

Apart from Ralsky, even Scott Bradley was also sentenced for 40 monhts in prison, who also happens to be Ralsky's son-in-law. Furthermore, How Wai John Hui, a resident of Hong Kong and Canada, received 51 months, and John S. Brown, of Fresno, California, received 32 months.

While Brown was blamed of running a botnet in order to send the spam, Hui reportedly indulged in wire and mail fraud as well as money laundering.

The DOJ said, "Five people -- Francis Tribble, Judy Devenow, William Neil, James Bragg and James Fite -- are scheduled for sentencing Tuesday in the same court on charges related to the scheme. Cases are still pending against two other people, Anki Neil and Peter Severa."