The mastermind behind a spam campaign that sent 27 million messages through Facebook servers in about a four-month period has been sentenced to 30 months in a federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud and criminal contempt, the website Law360 reported Wednesday.
Related: In 10 Years Facebook Could Control Much of Your Life
Federal prosecutors in California said 47-year-old Sanford Wallace gained access to 500,000 Facebook accounts in 2008 and 2009 to send the messages, some of which drove traffic to phishing websites.
Wallace, who turned himself in to the FBI in 2011, went by the names “The Spam King” and “Spamford,” among others, Law360 said.
Facebook won a $711 million verdict against Wallace in a 2010 civil suit, the website said.
