United States v. Michael Steven Twombly
United States District Court for the Southern District of California
475 F. Supp. 2d 1019 (2007)
- Written by Sharon Feldman, JD
Facts
Michael Twombly and Joshua Eveloff (defendants) were charged with committing fraud in connection with electronic mail in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1037(a)(3) and (4). The government (plaintiff) alleged that Twombly and Eveloff conspired to lease servers using false names; Twombly fraudulently leased 20 servers using false identities; Twombly leased the servers for Eveloff and was paid for each set of logon credentials provided to Eveloff; Twombly and Eveloff sent millions of spam email messages with falsified routing information and “From” lines; the emails contained advertising for computer software and directed recipients to a sham Canadian software company’s website; and anti-spam services blacklisted the network domain of one company from which Twombly leased a server, causing the company financial harm. The indictment tracked the statutory language and did not mention general criminal intent. Twombly and Eveloff moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the indictment failed to allege the essential element of mens rea—the intent to commit a criminal act.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Burns, J.)
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