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Spam King Settles With Texas, Microsoft

One of the world's most notorious spammers has settled lawsuits with the state of Texas and Microsoft Corp. that cost him at least $1 million, took away most of his assets and forced him to stop sending the nuisance e-mails.

Ryan Pitylak, 24, who graduated from the University of Texas last month, has admitted sending 25 million e-mails every day at the height of his spamming operation in 2004.

At one time, Pitylak was listed as the fourth-worst spammer in the world by the Spamhaus Project, a London-based international clearinghouse that tracks spammers and works closely with law enforcement officials.

The civil settlements were both reached last month in federal court.

As part of the settlement with Microsoft, Pitylak promised never again to send out false, misleading or unsolicited commercial e-mails.

Pitylak, who plans to help Internet companies fight spam, said he would sell his $430,000 house and a 2005 BMW to help pay his fines and legal bills.

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