"Spam King" Leonid Kuvaev jailed, but his affair lives

Leonid Kuvaev, who ranks second in the list of the most malicious spammers of the Internet (according to Spamhaus.org), got behind bars. Unfortunately, the Russian law enforcement agencies could not impute spam activities to him (although information about Leonid has circulated since 2006 ), but took him under article 134, which is not related to spam.

However, well-informed sources claim that the “king of spam” will sit for a long time. His criminal case No. 378243 is now awaiting consideration in court. Hearings will begin in the fall. Kuvaev has been under arrest since December 2009.

In the United States, the Kuvaev case was considered back in 2005, when he lived in the United States. Massachusetts Attorney General determined that Kuvaev’s spam network, including the BadCow affiliate program, generated him $ 30 million annually - and a Russian citizen was awarded a $ 37 million fine. However, Leonid went back to Russia, from which he could not be reached even with the help of the FBI . His websites continued to sell Viagra without a license and send spam through botnets.

In those times, Kuvaev was the first to start sending text as graphic images to bypass spam filters. According to Spamhaus, it is him who develops this technology.
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^{Leonid Kuvaev on holiday in Thailand, 2001.}

While in Russia, Kuvaev significantly expanded his business. He launched the Mailien affiliate program, which is still active , despite the lack of Kuvaev. Under this program, a number of partner sites operate, which will generate income for Kuvaev during the entire time he is in prison.