Spam suspect to be held until his trial

Robert Soloway, who was charged last month with a litany of crimes for sending millions of spam e-mails around the globe, was ordered detained without bail Wednesday until he stands trial.

A magistrate judge issued the order during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

Prosecutors for the U.S. Attorney's Office had argued that Soloway, 27, was a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Richard Troberman, Soloway's attorney, countered in a court filing that Soloway had no criminal history and that he was not accused of committing "extreme" crimes that might warrant detention, such as terrorism, a crime of violence or a crime involving a firearm.

Troberman also said the government's detention order was "woefully short on facts" that would suggest Soloway was a flight risk.

Judge James Donohue sided with the government in ordering that Soloway should be detained until his trial, which is scheduled to begin Aug. 6.

Soloway faces 35 counts of mail and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering and fraud in connection with electronic mail. The government also is seeking to have Soloway forfeit $773,000 that it says he earned from his enterprises.

Soloway is accused of, among other things, defrauding customers who paid him to send out high volumes of commercial e-mail or who bought his software to send spam themselves. For $495, Soloway would either send e-mails to 20 million addresses for 15 days or sell the customer 80,000 e-mail addresses.

On his Web site, Soloway promised customers they would see a 400 percent increase in business within 90 days or he would give them their money back. He also claimed he had e-mail addresses for 157.8 million people willing to receive spam.

David Bowermaster: 206-464-2724 or dbowermaster@seattletimes.com