Who to Avoid that are Fraudsters and Scammers, just one namely Steven Hourmouzis.

but if you are considering purchasing a roulette computer, then take a good look at this little sketch when purchasing an Expensive roulette System or roulette computer.

How To Spot a Scam?

Its simple really, offer to ONLY PAY a small deposit( say 10% like we allow you to pay) for the equipment until you have tried it yourself!

WHAT WE DO                             WHAT FRAUDULENT OPERATORS DO

NEVER PAY THE FULL AMOUNT UNTIL YOU HAVE TRIED THE PRODUCT FIRST!

Even if you have the privilege of seeing a demonstration, this could be set up using optimum conditions to fool you that are easy for a roulette computer to look impressive, but when you have tried it on your own footage, roulette wheels or in the casinos, you find out that for some unknown reason it does not work nearly as good as the product you paid several thousand pounds for.

If the Roulette computer seller wants the whole payment upfront, then its more likely a scam and once you have parted with your money, it will be pretty difficult to obtain a refund, if not impossible.

Read an example of a famous well known former imprisoned Fraudster Steven Hourmouzis who scams people and read the reviews of his victims and that they are all asking him to give them a refund under is so called 200% refundable guarantee, so be warned people, NEVER EVER PART WITH SEVERAL THOUSAND POUNDS IN GO FOR SUCH EQUIPMENT!

REMEMBER!

All electronic device’s, including chips can have a code in them so they will only run for a certain length of time,  this is very easy for mobile phones, personal pocket computers, and micro controller chips. This means the seller has a chance to allow the purchaser the use of such equipment for a certain time and evaluate its effectiveness in the REAL WORLD before parting with the full amount of the cost!

We also have some genuine vendors below listed, in fact currently, Mr Hourmouzis is the only one that a compulsive scam artist and we decided to give him a special mention first to avoid you losing your money to this slippery tongued scam merchant, we show how his video scam is done its done, name his victims with their proof of receipt and show you his cheap dig back at us with a site hosted at Zyweb. We expose his million pound offices to be none other than his living room, that his wife name in registered on the home mortgage and SHE is no catwalk model like he claims and his former court case when he was imprisoned for Internet Fraud.
Quote by one of stevens victims “In fact she would not break into a sweat pulling a 9 furrow plough across a farmers field! Come on Steven Hourmouzis, if you was a millionaire like you claim you would not have shot your beans into this beast of a woman, you would have had a choice!”

We show you how this scam is done with a link to You tube showing in part, a small proportion of the video showing how the scam is done.

This system in his video was stolen from a guy that gave it away for free and has since died and Mr Steven Hourmouzis gladly offers you it for just $2000! But does it work, No, its a scam and Mr Hourmouzis uses a technique called dealer signature to place the ball where he wishes. Look at the numbers below in the screen shot between 5 and 10 there is a black line on the track. Now if you watch exact point and the number that passes this point when Mr Hourmouzis spins the ball you will see that unbelievably that this is the same number he calls out with his bullshit magic pattern system. In fact if you follow what he is doing you actually will do better than what he does in his videos and you don,t have to spend $2000 dollars to find out why! Watch the entire video and see how using this simple observation of the number under the black line when he releases the ball gives you a better advantage than him! What a scammer you are Steven Hourmouzis.

How the scam is done . .

Here is a screen shot of what to look for and how he does the scam, you would never ever find these conditions in a real casino!

He owns the following sites and should be avoided at all costs, he is an extremely well versed manipulator and fraudster and has been in prison  for defrauding and scamming people.

Avoid these sites

Avoid this former imprisoned Fraudster, liar and cheat and see how he does his scams at http://stevenhourmouzis.com

Avoid these sites

http://roulettecomputers.com      http://genuinewinner.com       http://site-promotion.com

Avoid these message boards that are used and owned by Internet criminal Hourmouzis to lure you into purchasing a roulette computer

http://vlsroulette.com/                http://www.rouletteforum.net

He claimed his Wife was a model publicly and that his videos were created at his million pound offices, he also advertised jobs for Lawyers to make his site look convincing. His videos are a clever manipulation scam that we reported to the Police and upon publicly showing how the scam was done, many of his customers that were scammed complained to us supplying phone numbers and email addresses with EVIDENCE of proof of purchase. Mr Steven Hourmouzis first denied they were customers, then when they supplied documented evidence and it was made public, he claimed the purchasers were morons and stupid. Some of these Purchasers have since purchased my device, see what they say first hand when they compared my device with Mr Steven Hourmouzis Phone and paper system. Again, if you take a look at http://stevenhourmouzis.com and wish to believe a former imprisoned Internet criminal who has been proved to be fraudulent with witnessed testimonials from his customers and receipt documentation and contact email addresses and his former court case paper for Internet fraud. This guy Hourmouzis clearly smells of dirt, be warned.

There is no smoke without fire and Mr Steven Hourmouzis has retaliated with yet another fabricated site claiming the same about me, yet No customer names are mentioned and the site is hosted by a third party zyweb who are, once made aware of slander and abuse and showing links to other peoples copyrighted material are breaking the Law. They have been contacted, but stupidly the director Merlyn Kline thinks a few monthly dollars is more important that a legal case against them which can be filed directly against the hosting company. Mr Kline thinks that he is absolved from responsibility because he has a disclaimer, but the Law in the UK has very different views on this. Mr hourmouzis is so stupid that his home is only 15 miles away from their offices, yet thinks we have not checked the offices of ZYNET in Australia who own Zyweb. Its a family member who has shares in the company and think they are above the Law.

Here is the offending site not authored and mentions not one genuine customer of mine that has any legal address with me, but shows direct copies of old software of mine that I own intellectual property on.

The site he has created is http://www.zyworld.com/predict_roulette_computer_scam/

We have sent the following to Mr Merlyn Kline

Dear Mr Merlyn Kline

It is in breech of laws>

http://www.website-law.co.uk/resources/website-libel.html

(7) Liability of hosts

Website hosts may be liable for defamatory material created by someone else but which they host. However, there are special defences available to hosts under the Defamation Act 1996 and the E-commerce Regulations.

Under the Defamation Act 1996, a website host will have a defence to a claim for libel if he can show that (i) he was not the author, editor or publisher of the statement complained of, (ii) he took reasonable care in relation to its publication, and (iii) he did not know and had no reason to believe that what he did caused or contributed to the publication of the defamatory statement. The defence under the E-commerce Regulations is expressed in similar terms.

In order to have the best chance of taking advantage of these defences, a host should not as a matter of course monitor/edit the content of websites that it hosts; however as soon as the host becomes aware of potentially defamatory content, that content should be quickly removed.

We would like the offending content to be removed as you are legally liable once this has been drawn to your attention.

Regards

Mark Anthony Howe

We have contacted the office of fair trading and other authorities regards this arrogant and very ignorant hosting company director of Zyweb and Zynet. If they wish to side with a former Internet criminal who has been proved to be fraudulent with witnessed testimonials and receipt documentation and contact email addresses and his former court case for Internet fraud, then that’s their choice, they must be desperate for the few dollars a month Hourmouzis is paying them.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We are filing a court case against this host provider and claiming damages and will have the persons name exposed, although we know its Mr hourmouzis and his pathetic attempts to discredit others with lies and cheap words.

In other words, Mr Steven Hourmouzis has stupidly retaliated with NO EVIDENCE with a site that has no author, no named complainers!  The site he has created about me looks sought of convincing until you start reading it, until you notice there is no evidence, no names to the site, unlike http://stevenhourmouzis.com which the victims show there proof of purchase and invite you to contact them. They have all reported it to the authorities. Here is the best bit, he shows links illegally where my old software that he used himself can be downloaded, how stupid is this guy? You can now download old software that he stole from me and see how it holds up against modern wheels, it does not, that’s why we stopped using this software many years ago. He edited the software and stole some other features from another developer as well to make the software on his phone look convincing, but he messed up the old software further.

( you can see pictures of Hourmouzis so called model wife and his million pound fantasy offices( His living room) along with his video scam at http://stevenhourmouzis.com)

Check the link to see how he did the scam using dealer signature and influences where the ball goes, sound impossible, checkout the lin in the link section above to see for yourself. We are creating another site showing his video in part and how he actually implements this scam, which, if his videos worked like he claimed or any of his systems, he would not have to create this scam to convince you would he, the systems he sells would actually work. We passed this scam on to investigative Police in Australia who seemed very interested in his customers and victims he has ripped off and has asked each and every one to make an official complaint. My Hourmouzis offered a 200% refund if his products did not work like he claimed, after we exposed his scam, and his victims saw our video of how he did this, they have filed for a refund and made complains to the police.

We are a fair company that gives positive reviews if products actually work, we own the largest collection of every major software developed for beating roulette along with numerous roulette computers that can be viewed at http://roulettecomputers.info

Avoid this former imprisoned Fraudster, liar and cheat and see how he does his scams at http://stevenhourmouzis.com

Avoid these sites

http://roulettecomputers.com      http://genuinewinner.com       http://site-promotion.com

Avoid these message boards that are used and owned by Internet criminal Hourmouzis to lure you into purchasing a roulette computer

http://vlsroulette.com/                http://www.rouletteforum.net

How the scam is done using dealer manipulation that is very simple to do and has been known to the casinos for years, that’s why they watch their staff to stop them doing exactly this! Otherwise they would be able to do it for family or friends.

First and foremost avoid the mentally ill former imprisoned Internet criminal Steven Hourmouzis who will lie about competitors so you think he’s the only one that is genuine.

His latest claims is that Our winnings videos and one of our vehicles a hummer H2 is fake or hired,sorry to prove you wrong yet again Hourmouzis, price new in the UK is £49,000, its just a car to me, and to prove its not hired, just for your jealous eyes, here is the evidence you sad little man>

He tries feebly  to cheaply replicate our money counting video with copied money that he has simply made himself, its not genuine, we have passed the video onto the police in Australia so he can explain where the $50,000 is and prove to them he has not copied it using photocopiers. So many people have contacted us laughing at your pathetic attempts and your videos trying to convince us with your monopoly copied money that its genuine and from your businesses, save it Steven, save it and explain it to the police. He makes the gravest of mistakes in his videos counting various different currencies with his simple basic counter. He does not realise that in his stupidity this means he is NOT VERIFYING the notes by checking metal strips and watermarks like our professional money counting machine does. What he has done is placed possibly $2000 genuine Australian Currency and possibly $1000 US , note he does not show all the money on both sides spread about like we do here, because it would reveal his illegal copying of currency. He has just committed a felony yet again in his videos and got the attention of the Police and Authorities. Hourmouzis, everyone is laughing at your pathetic attempts to attack me. What moronic fool would try and bastardise everything a competitor does like you do with http://predictroulette.com, you are seriously a mentally ill and pathetic person who has to resort to such criminal tactics. Your video has been copied and passed the police, you will be getting a visit.

SHOW ME THE MONEY ,is what you should be asking anyone claiming to have workable roulette computers!

There is a lot of new people claiming to have the same sort of devices as us, claiming they are more efficient, they call themselves competitors, but they are really criminals and scam merchants who will state that my products will not work because I expose them over and over again. Ask them to show you videos of their winnings, leaving casinos, their cars and proof they own the vehicles, their homes, they simply cannot, but we do!

Now lets take a look at the criminals and fraudsters below>

Who to Avoid

Steven Hourmouzis of roulettecomputers.com

If you have been ripped off by this person, then contact the Police in Australia proving your purchase to them and that you wish to get a refund.

If you have been ripped off by Steven Hourmouzis
contact the Police directly

Lin Wong lin.wong@police.vic.gov.au
Analyst
Intelligence Liaison Unit
Intelligence and Covert Support Department
Victoria Police
10/412 St. Kilda Road
Melbourne  3004.
Tel: (03) 98652952

#Also
For information, you may also wish to notify the Australian Scam Watch :

http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/reportascam

He claimed his wife was a model and he was a millionaire, its all compete lies.

We have been informed hes actually a Crane driver!

Steven Hourmouzis is Australia who owns roulettecomputers.com is a former imprisoned Internet criminal who’s product can be obtained on the net absolutely free from an upset customer that removed it from his phone . Why he bothered, no one knows, it does not work. Get to see this guys home here and read more about this former imprisoned Internet criminal at>

http://www.zyworld.com/Bago/Stefano_Hourmouzis_Scam.htm

He later created a site against us hosted illegally at the same company against us, stating there was many customers of ours upset wanting a refund, not one is named funny enough! He states all sorts of fickle lies, most of it created by him to thinking we are criminals, but to the intelligent people out there, they can see straight through his scam and his lies. Any one wanting proof of the contrary on any issues raised in the site, contact us and we will supply evidence and proof. Even the legal document he send them to substantiate it has a fictitious Lawyers phone number and address on it, what a joke this person is. Read more about this criminal and how we exposed him at http://stevenhourmouzis.com

Hourmouzis program is zipped on the Internet and named predictscam.zip, its totally free! Its an early program of ours that he is hosting round the net that is no longer suitable for modern day wheels and he has messed up the code somewhat, but in fact, its the same software he has on his own devices, just renamed. One of his customers has both our MODERN SOFTWARE and his old software he has also messed up on his phone trying to convert it for Symbian systems on Nokia phones. Contact them yourself at http://stevenhourmouzis.com and look for Viorel in the Hourmouzis victims list!

Summary of the Steven Hourmouzis (also uses aliases Stefano Hourmouzis and Stevan Hormouzis, I wonder why?) Roulette Computer and His Proven Lies:

His latest claims is that Our winnings videos and one of our vehicles a hummer H2 is fake or hired,sorry to prove you wrong yet again Hourmouzis, price new in the UK is £49,000, its just a car to me, and to prove its not hired, just for your jealous eyes, here is the evidence you sad little man>

He tries feebly  to cheaply replicate our money counting video with copied money that he has simply made himself, its not genuine, we have passed the video onto the police in Australia so he can explain where the $50,000 is and prove to them he has not copied it using photocopiers lol. So many people have contacted us laughing at your pathetic attempts and your videos trying to convince us with your monopoly copied money that its genuine and from your businesses, save it Steven, save it and explain it to the police. He makes the gravest of mistakes in his videos counting various different currencies with his simple basic counter. He does not realise that in his stupidity this means he is NOT VERIFYING the notes by checking metal strips and watermarks like our professional money counting machine does. What he has done is placed possibly $2000 genuine Australian Currency and possibly $1000 US , note he does not show all the money on both sides spread about like we do here, because it would reveal his illegal copying of currency. He has just committed a felony yet again in his videos and got the attention of the Police and Authorities. Hourmouzis, everyone is laughing at your pathetic attempts to attack me. What moronic fool would try and bastardise everything a competitor does like you do attacking http://predictroulette.com, you are seriously a mentally ill and pathetic person who has to resort to such criminal tactics. Your video has been copied and passed the police, you will be getting a visit. Hourmouzis if people go to http://roulettecomputers.info they will see we give fair assessments of other peoples products, but not yours because there is simply to many complaints and your footage is fraudulent and a scam. You are the only current seller with an enormous list of complaints with victims supplying their names and proof of purchase!

The following picture and text below is taken from Tony’s site http://www.zyworld.com/Bago/Stefano_Hourmouzis_Scam.htm, a former customer of Stefano and the only one to ever get a refund after extreme pressure from Tony to go public with this information, he exposes Mr Hourmouzis over and over again, pictures of his home, his scam, how it works, it makes very interesting reading for anyone and proves conclusively that this guy Hourmouzis is seriously and mentally ill

Steven hourmouzis address is

2 Warrior Court Lilydale 3140 Australia

The picture at the top with the ironing board is Steven hourmouzis and this is is so called model wife and his million pound living room LOL

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My name is Mark Anthony Howe. Ever since I proved Stefano Hourmouzis >

1. That his roulette computer to be ineffective( video footage he used to promote his product was using dealer signature, in other words he uses a simple skill where the ball and rotor are spun consistently and a number noted at a reference point when he releases the ball) He had this removed claiming copyright infringement using the free DMCA service, yet I still have the footage and the freeze frames showing his devious scam. I am going to court shortly to have this publicly shown under the fair use act.I have personally passed this on to the police and authorities in Australia.
2. That he has been formerly locked up in prison for scamming people through the Internet. See his court papers below courtesy of the High Court in Melbourne , Australia See Court papers below.
3. That his name is a fake, his real name is Steven George Hourmouzis, Not Stefano Hourmouzis which is used to hide his real past and identity. See Court Papers below.
4. That he has a large mortgage and has not won millions like he claims or has multi million dollar incomes from his fictitious teams using his products, he is no millionaire, but a crane driver.
5. Revealed numerous users and purchasers of his devices all claiming it does not work, I have at least 100 complaint s, 10 of them are right here on this site allowing me to show evidence of this scam artist
   
6. That is genuinewinner system that costs $2000 was stolen from a Mr Oops site who use to give the system away for free
7. His fabricated seminars where he shows pictures of himself claiming its not him in empty rooms with empty chairs and a roulette wheel so you think its a genuine seminar, its not, DO NOT BE FOOLED!
8. We asked him to show that he really had transmitter pens like us to his computer, he showed just a picture of a pen claiming it had electronics inside it, no one has ever received one, they do not exist!
9. Claimed to have million pound offices and security, the truth is all his videos are done in his mortgaged home owned by his wife, its the same carpet, blinds and cat in the video.

He has made numerous desperate feeble attempts to discredit me, including posting false information and negative reviews and information about my products on his sites in order to increase sales on his own products. He it widely accepted that his products DO NOT WORK amongst his purchasers and experts in the field and that his footage was indeed orchestrated to fool and lure people into thinking his products genuinely predicted that well.He has since been reported to the office of fair trading in Australia by many people around the globe, 10 of them have kindly allowed me to post their comments here.

Mr Hourmouzis spends most of his time on message boards that he wholly relies on to promote his computer and paper system, he owns many of the forums where he posts positive reviews of his own products and negative reviews of mine under many fictitious characters. His posts diligently to all new comers guiding them through these sites and grooming them to set them up for the final sting, that they purchase one of his systems. He is not doing it to share knowledge, only to empty their wallets. He totally relies on these fraudulent message boards and posts to con people.

Such as

http://vlsroulette.com/

http://www.rouletteforum.net/

He makes references to me where he can using different identities claiming many negative remarks. He has even posted as me, then made links to it on his sites claiming I have wrote some lies about him.

Mr Hourmouzis is no expert in the field of Roulette prediction, he is a web site promoter who stole software and placed it on a mobile phone messing up the code in the process. The technology is very old now and no real threat to any modern wheels. If his products really worked, he would have not have had to turn to crime to make ends meet and would not have a large mortgage.

Its obvious to most people that this guy is really upset because I have personally exposed him as a former Internet criminal, someone not to be trusted and demonstrated that his promotional video was fabricated to fool people into purchasing his products along with the other Facts above.

One must wonder why he cannot defend himself and disprove his court case and prison sentence, his lies about his fictitious offices, that his Wife is a model, that he used dealer signature to scam people. If it was not a scam, then why did he file for the my proof at my site to be taken down using a DMCA copyright ruling, because he was EXPOSED for what he is.

He has been convicted before and imprisoned and been to court twice and lost since, its only a matter of time before a sentence is passed and he is convicted yet again.

Mr Hourmouzis is an extremely skilled manipulator and will try and divert attention if any one challenges him about his products or claims. He will go to extreme lengths and one lie becomes another. He is the most prolific dishonest person I have ever come across on the Internet and claims if his products do not work, he will give a 200% refund, well Mr Hourmouzis, start with the 10 people here! He claims that the 10 people listed here are not customers of his, so they have included their email address so you can ask for proof of purchase. They have all asked for a refund, they have all complained to the authorities.

You have had plenty of opportunity to give these people a refund like you claim you do at your sites, when is it going to happen Mr Hourmouzis?

If you have been scammed by Steven Hourmouzis, report him directly to the authorities in Australia, not me, I am not interested in this deceptive lying conman, only that the authorities prosecute him soon so he stops the lies and rubbish he is spreading about me and my products and more importantly that his scam is stopped. I seriously know this person is deranged from what I have personally witnessed from his lack of empathy for others and his abusive behaviour.

Click HERE!

Here we clear a few facts up about the truth about Mr Steven Hourmouzis, former Internet criminal who was imprisoned for Fraud and now sells roulette computers he claims can beat roulette?

Mr Hourmouzis  stated that the UK Gambling Commission had told him as a potential customer to stay away from our products at http://www.predictroulette.com, this was never said and they sent me a letter stating that they had been totally misquoted and that Mr Hourmouzis was in fact lying. Proof below showing the franking mark on the letters in pics 1& 2, faking this is an imprison-able offence in the UK against Her Majesty,yet Mr Hourmouzis  claims we have faked the letter!

The second two copies of letters are from the high court in Melbourne Australia allowing us to show that Mr Hourmouzis was Imprisoned for Fraud and Deception in 1999 at the age  of 24 years. At his site he claims he has been developing workable roulette computers for 15 years, in fact in 2005 he claimed he had been developing roulette computers since 1995 making him only 19 years of age! His History of selling study guide material on the net when you read his court case below 4 years later from 1995 and risking going to prison for such a small amount of money, remember this is Australian Dollars, does simply not add up.WHY DID HE NOT USE HIS ROULETTE COMPUTERS THEN TO MAKE MONEY? Maybe because they do not work!

From Kind permission Of the SUPREME COURTS IN MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA http://search.justice.vic.gov.au/County/search.html Type ‘Hourmouzis’ in the search criteria

Or read below:

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

COUNTY COURT

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

MELBOURNE

MONDAY 30 OCTOBER 2000

BEFORE HIS HONOUR JUDGE STOTT

THE QUEEN v. STEVEN GEORGE HOURMOUZIS

SENTENCE

HIS HONOUR: Steven George Hourmouzis, you have pleaded guilty to two counts of making statements or disseminationing -information that was false in a material particular or materially misleading and likely to induce the purchase of securities by other persons contrary to the Corporations Law. The maximum penalty for those offences is a fine of $20,000 or imprisonment for five years or both.

You have also pleaded guilty to one count of interfering with, interrupting or obstructing the lawful use of a computer contrary to s.76E of the Crimes Act 1914. The maximum penalty for this offence is imprisonment for 10 years.

Count 1: Between 12.40 a.m. on Saturday 8 May 1999 and 11.21 p.m. on Sunday 9 May 1999, you sent in excess of three million spam Email messages to addresses in Australia, the United States and possibly elsewhere, which addresses were provided to you by an associate. The messages were transmitted through an internet service provider, Mondial Net Pty Ltd following the prior purchase by you of six prepaid internet access kits under false names. You used a computer at your home to transmit the messages and two telephone numbers through Telstra telephone lines to connect with the Mondial facilities. The messages were relayed through nine mail servers who were said by your associate to be suitable but without their knowledge or consent. The text of the message was identical. You composed it. Several different sender names were used, the majority of which were false. The messages concerned a US corporation Rentech Inc, which was listed on the NASdaq Exchange. Among other things the messages said:

“lmminent outstanding company news and profit potential too great to ignore.

Dear Investor, analysts have predicted a plus 900 per cent rise in Rentech stock over the next few months due to recent developments and imminent company news. As Rentech has new superior and patented technology scheduled for release, Rentech stock will only dramatically increase in value and immediate

purchase before the promotion of several imminent releases while the stock is barely 50 cents a share, virtually guarantees phenominal profit, possibly plus 900 per cent over the next few months. Careful investigation will indicate our research is accurate and will reveal Rentech’s phenominal profit potential. It will generate returns far greater than any other stock or investment programme. As a buying frenzy is anticipated over the next few days, we advise you to act promptly to maximize returns. Sent on behalf of VSP Financial by Growth Successes Strategies.”

VSP was a false name and was not an investment adviser, there were no imminent news releases or patent and no recent development. The other words, wherever the message purported to state a fact it was false.

Count 2: During the same weekend you caused messages to be posted on Internet Bulleton Boards situated in the United States and operated by Yahoo Inc and Raging Bull, both of which companies provided internet services offering financial news to internet users. The messages were identical. Having referred to Rentech, they said:

“This stock is going up once the pending patents are released. YOU would be crazy to sell anything -below $3 in a few months from now. I just bought 20 K shares of Rentech. I have done some close research on these guys.”

As previously stated there were no pending patents. Again you composed the message but it would appear your associate assisted by making the Bulletin Board postings.

Count 3: In sending out the spam Email messages you relayed them through a number of third party servers. That modus operandi was chosen to minimise the risk of detection as it gave the appearance to recipients of the messages, that they had emanated from therelayed servers. It also enabled you to utilise the services of those mail servers to on-send many hundreds of thousands of Emails over a short period of time and saving yourself the cost of doing so. The utilisation of the third party mail servers’ facilities in this way resulted in no damage to them but time was lost by them when they had to shut the servers down in order to clear them of the messages. It also gave rise to concern for the reputation of those commercial businesses and concern that someone had gained access to the servers.

It is no coincidence that when the NASdaq opened for trading on Monday 10 May 1999, trading in Rentech shares was approximately 10 times the average daily trading volume and the share price doubled before trading was halted pending an announcement to be made by the company.

Rentech issued a press release denying the statements made in the Email messages. The next day when trading resumed, Rentech shares fell from an opening price of 71 cents per share to a closing price of 31 cents per share. On 5 May 1999, through brokers in Canada, you bought 65,000 shares in Rentech Inc at a limit of 50 cents per share. On 10 May

1999, having seen some messages of complaint and references to someone going to gaol for it, you panicked and instructed your broker to sell the shares. You made a profit of $17,000, $7,000 of which you gave to your associate. The balance you placed in other investments.

It is clear that considerable deliberation, planning, care, skill and sophistication was involved in implementing your plan. As early as 27 April 1999, you sent your associate an Email message which said:

“This is illegal but I like it. Just don’t mention anything to anyone about anything until we purchase the stock and always keep our true identity very concealed.”

This illustrates that not only were you aware your planned conduct was unlawful but that you wished to proceed with it for personal gain. And that is what eventuated as did steps taken to conceal your identity.

When asked about that message in your record of interview, your answers were evasive and unconvincing. The message also makes it difficult to accept the submission made on your behalf that you had no real understanding of the consequences of your planned action.

As a result of your action, resources, both financial and personal had to be expended to investigate the spam problem, to implement anti spam defences and to deal with complaints. Some of the Internet addresses were blocked for a period, upsetting the ability of those -businesses to communicate. All these matters gave rise to a concern about the negative effect upon their commercial operations. In addition, in relation to the first two counts, your conduct had the potential to result in loss to investors, in loss of investor confidence in the system and in adversely impacting on the integrity of the stock market.

Information technology is now an indispensable part of daily life. It is a powerful tool with global application. When misused, the capacity to misinform, mislead and cause harm is immense. When the misuse is illegal and of the nature which your offending was, you and other users of the Internet have to be aware that the : courts will regard the offences as sufficiently serious as to call for the imposition of a custodial sentence nothwithstanding the absence of prior convictions.

In mitigation a number of matters was relied upon. Firstly, you were co-operative with police in a lengthy record of interview and answered all questions and made admissions. Secondly, you pleaded guilty at what was, in effect, the first opportunity. You are entitled to be dealt with more leniently than 1 would otherwise have been disposed to by reason of that plea and its timing as it saved the time and expense of a potentially lengthy and complex trial. Thirdly, you have no prior convictions. Fourthly, your personal circumstances.

You are a 24 year old single man living with your parents. You have two older brothers. No member of your family has ever been in trouble with the authorities. You have

enjoyed a stable life to date and a close relationship with your family. Your upbringing was unremarkable and you completed Year 12 at Doncaster Secondary College. At school you joined the Air Training Corps rising to the rank of sergeant. You later failed to gain selection for the Airforce despite two attempts to do so. You abandoned an applied physics course at RMIT upon finding it did not suit you. You had your own computer from the age of 21 and began exploring the Internet and its possibilities and became interested in marketing concepts and promotions and in 1997 started up your own business, selling educational products including study skill guides and software programmes until 1998 when you became involved in promoting web sites and products and you have worked intermittently as a consultant in that area to date with an irregular income. You are currently engaged in working with a non profit research organisation and the Department of Energy, to promote alternative energy and transportation research.

References from family and friends speak of you as an honest and caring young man and of the offences being out of character and of your having exhibited remorse.

As a result of your conduct in these offences, United States SEC has obtained judgment against you in the District Court of Colorado for about 15,800 US dollars which judgment remains unsatisfied.

The thrust of the submission made on your behalf was that if I were of the view that the offending in this particular case was too serious to be dealt with by anything less than a custodial sentence, then I should take the step of wholly suspending any such sentence. The Crown’s response was that the seriousness of the offences called for a custodial sentence, but that having regard to the matters raised in mitigation, a custodial sentence not requiring an immediate term of imprisonment would be within the range.

Thus it falls to me to determine what is an appropriate sentence having regard to all the circumstances, to the matters already referred to, and to the.matters referred to in s.16A of the Crimes Act as well as the abolition of remissions in Victoria as required by s.16G. Having given the matter anxious consideration I sentence you to be imprisoned for a period of two years on each count. Each sentence is to commence today and be served concurrently. I order that upon you giving security in the sum of $500 by recognisance that you will be of good behavior for the period of two years, you be released after you have served three months.

I am obliged by s.16F of the Crimes Act to explain the sentence to you and do so in these terms. The purpose of the sentence is to reflect the gravity of the offences and to deter you and others who may be minded to commit similar offences but, having regard to the matters raised in mitigation, spare you the need to serve the full term of two years. After you have served three months you will then be released. Should you be of good behaviour for two years, that will be the end of the matter. On the other hand, should you reoffend within that period and break the recognisance you will be brought back to court with the distinct likelihood that you will then be required to serve some part of the balance of the term between the three months you would have served and the period of two years. There is also a right to apply to the court in the future to have your

recognizance discharged or varied. You may be seated until the recognizance release order is prepared.

(Order signed and acknowledged)

Yes, remove the prisoner.

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