**The mastermind of a “vast international spam network” has been ordered to pay a fine of $15.5m (£10m) by US courts.**New Zealander Lance Atkinson and his US accomplice Jody Smith sent billions of illegal e-mails marketing prescription drugs and and weight-loss pills.
US authorities claimed the gang - known as HerbalKing - “deceptively marketed” the drugs on the internet.
Three companies affiliated with Mr Smith are liable for a further $4m, following the case.
The pair claimed that the drugs they sold were generic versions of branded and licensed medications.
However, they were actually imported from India, unapproved and “potentially unsafe” according to authorities.
The Federal Trade Commission, who bought the case, also said that Mr Atkinson and Mr Smith failed to protect the security of customer payments by claiming that they were using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption technology to process payments even though they were not.
All the assets of Jody Smith have been frozen and he faces a jail sentence up to five years for “conspiracy to traffic counterfeit goods”. He will be sentenced in the US in December.
Lance Atkinson’s brother Shane has also been fined by a New Zealand court for sending spam e-mails. He has been ordered to pay $112,000 (£67,500).
Collectively, they were named the “number one worst spam gang on the internet” for 2007 and 2008 by anti-spam body Spamhaus. The gang was thought to have been active since at least 2005.
Spamhaus estimates that more than 90% of all e-mail is spam.