Russian spammer found murdered

Vardan Kushnir bludgeoned to death

Russia's most infamous spammer, Vardan Kushnir, was found bludgeoned to death in his Moscow apartment on Sunday, July 24th. Kushnir was the owner of the American Language Center, which provided English language courses for Russian-speaking persons. Kushnir sent so much spam on behalf of American Language Center that he quickly became the target of DDoS attacks, death threats, and even the deposit of feces outside the ALC offices.

Kushnir (via a company called Sophim, Inc.) was also allegedly involved in a 2001 stock scam in the U.S. which resulted in the Office of the Kansas Securities Commissioner issuing a Cease & Decist order. More recently, someone using the name Vardan Kushnir and claiming to be the president of Sophim, Inc., posted messages to various financial groups, seeking partners for 'tradeforall.com'. The domain name tradeforall.com expired on July 19th, 2005 and has not yet been renewed.

But according to Moscow media, it was sex - and not spam or financial scams - that ultimately led to the violent demise of the 35-year-old Kushnir. Kommersant reports that on the night of his murder, Kushnir allegedly met three women in a club whom he subsequently invited to his apartment. The women then drugged and robbed Kushnir. He apparently awoke during the robbery attempt and was subsequently beaten to death.