They hacked into at least eight e-mail Service Providers (ESPs) all over the United States, including two ESPs based in the Northern District of Georgia. Between approximately February 2009 and June 2012, using various methods to break the system’s security, Nguyen allegedly hacked into the ESPs’ computer databases and, in conjunction with Vu, used his unauthorized access to launch spam attacks on tens of millions of e-mail recipients. “These men—operating from Vietnam, the Netherlands, and Canada—are accused of carrying out the largest data breach of names and e-mail addresses in the history of the Internet,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. Than they made millions in affiliate commissions, selling products by marketing them to those tens of millions of e-mail recipients.
In June 2011 the data breach into certain ESPs was the subject of a congressional inquiry and testimony before a U.S House of Representatives subcommittee.
Da Silva, the co-owner, President and a Director of 21 Celsius, Inc., a Canadian corporation that ran Marketbay.com, was indicted on Wednesday March 4, 2015 by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to commit money laundering with Nguyen and others. The case is being prosecuted in Georgia.
