Oleg Nikolaenko
| Oleg Nikolaenko | |
|---|---|
Photo by U.S. Marshals
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| Born |
Олег Егорович Николаенко July 17, 1987 Soviet Union |
| Residence | Vidnoye, Moscow Oblast, Russia |
| Other names | "Docent" "King of Spam" |
| Citizenship | Russia |
| Criminal charge | Violation of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 |
| Criminal status | Pled guilty and sentenced to time served plus three years probation |
Oleg Yegorovich Nikolaenko (Russian: Олег Егорович Николаенко; born July 17, 1987) is a Russian national who has been charged in a U.S. federal court with violating the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Federal investigators believe his activities may have been responsible for as much as one third of the world's electronic spam.
Oleg Nikolaenko, a resident of Vidnoye, Moscow Oblast, Russia, was identified as the "King of Spam" by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. He is suspected of running the "Mega-D" botnet to create a "zombie network" of as many as 500,000 infected computers. Investigators stated that his operation was responsible for producing up to 10 billion unsolicited e-mails per day, accounting for about 32% of all spam. The messages allegedly promoted counterfeit versions of Rolex watches, herbal supplements and prescription drugs such as Viagra. In October 2008, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission moved to freeze the assets of individuals involved with the Mega-D botnet, though Nikolaenko's identity was not yet known at the time.
The FBI got a break in the case in August 2009, when Jody M. Smith pleaded guilty in Missouri to selling counterfeit Rolex watches and began cooperating with investigators. Federal agents used grand jury subpoenas to trace financial payments of $459,000 from convicted New Zealand spammer Lance Atkinson to Nikolaenko, who had been using the alias of "Docent". Google provided the FBI with Nikolaenko's e-mail records. Investigators subpoenaed his travel records from the U.S. State Department, which indicated that he had visited New York City, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas over the course of two trips in 2009. However, the Constitution of Russia specifically prohibits the extradition of its citizens.
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Wikipedia