The long saga of the notorious “Spam King” Edward Davidson ended on a sad note this weekend. The bodies of Davidson, his wife and young daughter were found in Davidson’ SUV, the result of an apparent murder-suicide.
Federal authorities had been searching for Davidson since the beginning of the week when he literally walked away from a minimum-security federal prison in Florence, Colorado. Davidson had been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to falsifying header information to send spam e-mail, criminal forfeiture and tax evasion. The sentence was considered light by some internet law observers, though it is worth noting that as part of Davidson’s plea, he cooperated with authorities, detailing his activities and dealings with other spammers and at least 20 other companies.
Davidson had also been ordered to pay $714,139 to the IRS as restitution for tax evasion. The tax evasion charge was linked to approximately $3.5 million that he admitted to grossing between 2003 and 2006, the proceeds of various spam campaigns. In order to escape reporting the income, Davidson reportedly deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars into his girlfriend’s bank account, bought expensive gifts and converted large amounts of cash into gold, platinum and silver coins.
Good riddance!!!