Spammer pharmacist indicted for fraud, dealing

Christopher William Smith, from Prior Lake was arrested on Wednesday following an investigation into the activities of his company, Xpress Pharmacy Direct.

Smith has been a regular on anti-spam lobbyist Spamhaus' list of worst offenders for some time and in May this year his company had its assests frozen by U.S. District Court judge Michael Davis. Smith's father, wife and business partner Alton Scott Poe also had their assets frozen.

Smith offered prescription drugs to spam recipients. According to the indictment he made more than $20 million from the sale of addictive painkiller Hydrodone. The dozen charges included distributing controlled substances, money laundering and wire fraud.

Smith was first arrested in July at Minneapolis St. Paul International airport shortly after stepping off a flight from the Dominican Republic.

Smith is one of many spammers who have made millions from their operations (in May federal authorities picked up $1.8 million in luxury cars from outside his mansion). Earlier this month SC reported AOL is giving away the bounty it recovered from its own spam conviction in an online competition. Spammer Brad Bournival was forced to turn over cash, gold bars and a massive Hummer H2.