'Spam King' escapes $20m fine - by $19.95m

Last week, self-proclaimed Spam King and ladies underwear seller Scott Richter, was staring down the barrel of a $20m fine courtesy of New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer. Now, Richter has agreed to play by the rules and Spitzer has agreed to drop his price by £19.95m.

Richter, proprietor of 'email marketing' company OptInRealBig.com - dubbed the world's second most prolific spammer by anti-spam organisation SpamHaus - had been in Spitzer's firing line for repeatedly breaking the terms of the 2003 CAN SPAM Act. So much so, Spitzer had publicly vowed last year to put the alleged spammer out of business and wipe out his profits.

As part of the agreement between the two, Richter has said he will play by the rules of the CAN SPAM Act: no more spoofed addresses, dodgy email accounts and deceptive subject lines, apparently, and no more sending messages to people who haven't requested them.

Spitzer said that if Richter broke the rules, he'd be back in court "facing greater penalties".

Richter will now pay $40,000 in penalties and $10,000 in costs. A separate suit by Microsoft against Richter will carry on as planned.