Jeremy Jaynes
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Jeremy Jaynes (born 1974) was a prolific e-mail spammer, broadcasting junk e-mail from his home in North Carolina, United States.
Under a variety of aliases, [1], Jaynes used 16 T1 internet connections to send hundreds of thousands of e-mails per day, using e-mail lists later reported stolen from AOL and eBay, amongst others. Spamhaus, a directory of junk e-mailers, estimated that he was the eighth most prolific spammer in the world for the period in question. [2]
Jaynes used different identities and front businesses for different types of spam. Under the alias "Gaven Stubberfield", Jaynes was responsible for a large amount of animal sex pornography spam, advertising images of women having sex with horses and dogs. He used another front, "National Wealth Builders", to promote get-rich-quick schemes.
[edit] Prosecution and conviction
Along with his sister Jessica DeGroot, whose name appeared on one of the credit cards used in purchasing some of Jaynes' domain names, [3] Jaynes was convicted in November 2004 of sending bulk, unsolicited e-mail with forged headers. Although he was a resident of North Carolina, he was convicted in Leesburg, Virginia, as he had used servers located in that state. He was sentenced to nine years in jail, while his sister was fined $7,500. A third defendant, Richard Rutkowski, was acquitted. DeGroot's conviction was later overturned by a judge, but Jaynes' conviction was upheld. Amongst the witnesses was John Levine, author of The Internet For Dummies. [4]
During the trial it was revealed that Jaynes had delivered physical junk mail during the 1990s. His e-mail outfit primarily advertised a variety of "work at home" schemes. Of the hundreds of thousands of e-mails he broadcast per day, only an estimated 10-17,000 replied; but with orders of $39.95 per customer, Jaynes may have earned up to $750,000 per month, [5] and amassed a personal fortune estimated at $24 million (unclear as to where this figure originated - court proceedings never established origin), against line rental of $50,000 per month.
Although the prosecution had argued for a sentence of fifteen years in jail, the jury decided on nine years. Judge Thomas Horne, presiding, agreed to this sentence in April 2005. [6] However, Judge Horne postponed the sentence while the case is in appeals. Jaynes' defense lawyer, David Oblon, has argued that the sentence is an unconstitutional infringement of free speech; conversely, Assistant Attorney General Russell McGuire, who prosecuted the case, argues that a lengthy sentence will serve as a deterrent. Oblon believes that they will win the appeal, while Jaynes remains under a $1 million bond.
On Sept. 5, 2006 The Virginia Court of Appeals upheld his conviction. Virginia Attorney General, Bob McDonnell, plans to petittion the court to revoke the bond, and send Jaynes to prison.
