"The King of Spam" Leonid Kuvaev imprisoned, but his cause lives on

Leonid Kuvaev, who ranks second in the list of the most malicious Internet spammers (according to Spamhaus.org), was jailed. Unfortunately, the Russian law enforcement authorities could not charge him with spamming activity (although information about Leonid has been circulating since 2006 ), and they took him under article 134, which is not related to spam.

However, informed sources claim that the “king of spam” will sit for a long time. His criminal case number 378243 is now pending trial. The hearing will begin in the fall. Kuvaev has been under arrest since December 2009.

In the United States, the Kuvaev case was considered in 2005, when he lived in the United States. The Massachusetts Attorney General determined that Kuvaev’s spammer network, including the BadCow affiliate program, generate $ 30 million annually - and the Russian citizen was fined $ 37 million. However, Leonid went back to Russia, where he couldn’t even get it with the help of the FBI . His sites continued to sell Viagra without a license and send spam through botnets.

In those distant times, Kuvaev was the first to start sending text in the form of graphic images to bypass spam filters. According to Spamhaus, it was he who owned the development of this technology.


^{Leonid Kuvaev on vacation in Thailand, 2001.}

While in Russia, Kuvaev significantly expanded his business. He launched the Mailien affiliate program, whichstill active , despite Kuvaev’s absence. Under this program, a number of partner sites operate that will generate income for Kuvaev while she is in prison.