The United States’ Justice Department announced on Thursday that a federal grand jury in Detroit had indicted Alan Ralsky, also known as the “Spam King”, and his 10 helpers in an international illegal bulk emailing and stock fraud scheme. Alan Ralsky is 52 years old and he is from West Bloomfield, Michigan.

The “Spam King” and his 10 helpers, including his son-in-law, have been operating a spamming operation that focused on running a stock “pump and dump” scheme. They were sending spam touting thinly traded Chinese penny stocks, drove up their stock price and then reaped profits by selling the stock at artificially inflated prices. "Today's charges seek to knock out one of the largest illegal spamming and fraud operations in the country, an international scheme to make money by manipulating stock prices through illegal spam e-mail promotions," the United States’ Attorney Stephen Murphy stated.

Alan Ralsky is one of the most prolific spammers in the U.S. and this is why he was also dubbed the “Spam King.” According to the indictment, the “Spam King” and his group used different illegal methods to sent large amounts of spam that tricked the spam-blocking devices and then lots of naïve users.

The United States’ Justice Department said that the indictment followed a three-year investigation. According to investigators, Ralsky’s group earned about $3 million during the summer of 2005 alone as a result of their illegal activities.

Until now, the federal authorities arrested only three people, including Alan Ralsky’s son-in-law, Scott Bradley. The “Spam King” and all the others are still being sought.