US spammer charged with manipulating Chinese stock prices

One of America's leading senders of spam e-mail messages made millions of dollars by manipulating Chinese stock prices, a federal prosecutor alleged in an indictment unveiled Thursday. Adam Ralsky and seven other defendants in the indictments, which name 11 people, remain at large. US Attorney Stephen Murphy says the scheme sent tens of millions of e-mail messages to computers worldwide trying to inflate prices for Chinese penny stocks. Conviction on the most serious charges, mail fraud and wire fraud, carries as many as 20 years in prison and a $250,000 (€169,457) fine.