The third charge related to Mr Loughnan's interference with, interruption of or obstruction of the lawful use of computers operated by ten unrelated third parties. The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions brought him before the Court for failing to pay for the pecuniary penalty order. The order was obtained by the Commonwealth DPP in order to forfeit his profits arising from the transmission of the Rentech spam e-mails. The matter was adjourned to a day to be fixed. This cheque represents his profit derived from providing services to Mr Hourmouzis.
Further information is provided in the background which follows.
On or around 8 and 9 May 1999, up to four million spam emails were received by addressees in the United States, Australia and in other parts of the world. The messages also made a number of other representations about Rentech stock. ASIC alleged that the spam messages and bulletin board postings contained information that was false and misleading and was intended to induce investors to purchase Rentech stock. ASIC alleged that the inducement for purchase of the securities of Rentech occurred both through the transmission of the spam e-mail messages and by the posting of the messages on the Internet websites. The Court was also told that Mr Loughnan met Mr Hourmouzis through the internet and had never met with each other face to face before.