Comments on: A Review Of Brian McWilliams’s Spam Kings http://michaelgracie.com/2005/03/31/a-review-of-brian-mcwilliamss-spam-kings/ Clever Tagline Unavailable At Publication Time Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:41:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Ethan Preston http://michaelgracie.com/2005/03/31/a-review-of-brian-mcwilliamss-spam-kings/#comment-56 Ethan Preston Fri, 01 Apr 2005 19:49:20 +0000 http://www.michaelgracie.com/a-review-of-brian-mcwilliamss-spam-kings/#comment-56 The bankruptcy of Scott Richter's OptinRealBig is obviously big news, but nobody has mentioned Richter's own Chapter 11 petition, which may end up becoming the main event. Spamroll already knows that Microsoft's collection of its judgment against Richter and OptinRealBig will be very interesting. One of the reasons why is that Richter will probably have taken some extraordinary steps to protect his assets. Experienced anti-spam litigators have commented that professional spammers are increasingly engaging in asset protection planning, including moving assets offshore. Richter has had years and millions of dollars to devote to quality asset protection planning. As McWilliams has said, the fact that Richter's father is an attorney and a CPA is significant. On the other hand, Microsoft is a well-funded adversary and, given how it has publicized the litigation, Microsoft is determined to collect this judgment. I expect that Richter's bankruptcy will generate some very sophisticated litigation. But I would be surprised if Richter relied on simply moving assets offshore, however. Courts have not hesitated to jail individuals, for years, if necessary, who fail to repatriate large sums of money to satisfy judgments against them. Unless Richter plans on fleeing the jurisdiction, he cannot protect his money for long by simply dumping it offshore. Certainly, Richter could try to just hide money offshore, but that would have criminal consequences. A more practical problem is that Microsoft has ample resources to devote to a forensic accounting of Richter's bankruptcy estate. It seems unlikely that Richter could successfully hide significant amounts of money from Microsoft for long. In any event, sophisticated asset planning uses techniques besides offshore bank accounts nowadays. It will be interesting to see what tricks Richter has up his sleeves. (See eplaw.us/news/2005/03/31#scott_richter_declares for more links, and some original documents.) The bankruptcy of Scott Richter’s OptinRealBig is obviously big news, but nobody has mentioned Richter’s own Chapter 11 petition, which may end up becoming the main event. Spamroll already knows that Microsoft’s collection of its judgment against Richter and OptinRealBig will be very interesting. One of the reasons why is that Richter will probably have taken some extraordinary steps to protect his assets. Experienced anti-spam litigators have commented that professional spammers are increasingly engaging in asset protection planning, including moving assets offshore. Richter has had years and millions of dollars to devote to quality asset protection planning. As McWilliams has said, the fact that Richter’s father is an attorney and a CPA is significant. On the other hand, Microsoft is a well-funded adversary and, given how it has publicized the litigation, Microsoft is determined to collect this judgment. I expect that Richter’s bankruptcy will generate some very sophisticated litigation.

But I would be surprised if Richter relied on simply moving assets offshore, however. Courts have not hesitated to jail individuals, for years, if necessary, who fail to repatriate large sums of money to satisfy judgments against them. Unless Richter plans on fleeing the jurisdiction, he cannot protect his money for long by simply dumping it offshore. Certainly, Richter could try to just hide money offshore, but that would have criminal consequences. A more practical problem is that Microsoft has ample resources to devote to a forensic accounting of Richter’s bankruptcy estate. It seems unlikely that Richter could successfully hide significant amounts of money from Microsoft for long. In any event, sophisticated asset planning uses techniques besides offshore bank accounts nowadays. It will be interesting to see what tricks Richter has up his sleeves. (See eplaw.us/news/2005/03/31#scott_richter_declares for more links, and some original documents.)

]]> By: Spam Report http://michaelgracie.com/2005/03/31/a-review-of-brian-mcwilliamss-spam-kings/#comment-57 Spam Report Fri, 01 Apr 2005 03:44:55 +0000 http://www.michaelgracie.com/a-review-of-brian-mcwilliamss-spam-kings/#comment-57 <strong>New spam blog</strong> Spamroll is a new blog that aims to provide "pragmatic talk on spam, phishing, and other denizens of the underworld Internet". Recommended.... New spam blog

Spamroll is a new blog that aims to provide “pragmatic talk on spam, phishing, and other denizens of the underworld Internet”. Recommended….

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