Cybersquatter Faces Jail Time For Wire Fraud

coondoggie writes to mention that a Las Vegas man faces about 20 years in prison today after pleading guilty in a case where he impersonated intellectual property lawyers and tried to bully owners out of their domain names. "According to the FBI, David Scali is charged with registering an e-mail account under an alias and then sending e-mails in which he claimed to be the intellectual property lawyer. In the e-mails, which were sent in late June and early July of 2006, Scali threatened to file $100,000 trademark infringement lawsuits against the owners of various Internet website names unless they gave up their domain name registrations within two days."

Comments

Thats step 1

[AuMatar]

Now when is the FBI going to come down on the real lawyers who do the exact same thing?

Re:I knew something was fishy in his takedown requ

[DavidJSimpson]

Maybe he shouldn't have signed it Lionel Hutch, Esq.

You mean Lionel Hutz. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Hutz
If you are going to impersonate someone, at least impersonate the right person.

Re:20 years or only probation? Article says both.

[AuMatar]

The maximum sentence is 20 years. Prosecutors agreed to ask for something in the probation-6 months range in exchange for a guilty plea. The judge makes the final decision and he is allowed to give up to the maximum, although they usually follow the plea agreement.