An Australian man has been given a two-year suspended jail sentence for his part in sending mass commercial e-mail, or spam, and bulletin board postings to millions of Internet users.

Wayne John Loughnan of Noosa Heads, Queensland, was sentenced to two years in jail on Tuesday after pleading guilty to charges of securities fraud and unlawful interference with third-party computer systems. The case was brought by the Australian financial watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). A joint investigation by ASIC and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was sparked by spam and Web message board postings in May 1999 containing information about the stock of a US company called Rentech Inc. Loughnan and another man he met on the Net, Steven George Hourmouzis of Donvale, Victoria, were charged with sending the messages urging investors to buy Rentech stock. Rentech, traded on the Nasdaq market between 1991 and August 1999, develops technology processes that convert gaseous and solid compounds containing carbon into liquid hydrocarbon. The spam and message board postings on Raging Bull and Yahoo claimed the company's stock was about to jump to $3 oer share or more from around 33 cents, when patents were released. Other promises about the company's shares were made, prompting recipients to buy the stock. ASIC said that more than four million e-mail messages were sent out. The next trading day, Rentech's stock doubled on trading volume that was more than 10 times the previous month's average. The watchdog alleged that the spam messages and Web board postings contained information that was false and misleading and was intended to induce investors to purchase Rentech stock. Hourmouzis had bought 65,000 Rentech shares through a stockbroking firm in Canada a few days before the spam e-mail was sent out and the Web board messages were posted. He then sold the shares on the first trading day after the spamming, raking in a profit of approximately 17,000 Australian dollars ($8,857). Loughnan then received 7,000 Australian dollars ($3,647) from Hourmouzis as payment for his services. The court heard that Loughnan had been responsible for the bulletin board postings, and had provided Hourmouzis with a list of six million e-mail addresses and details of how to relay the spam through third-party computer systems. Both Loughnan and Hourmouzis, who was sentenced to two years imprisonment - 21 months suspended - in Victoria last year, have now pleaded guilty to the charges related to misleading stock information. The duo also pleaded guilty to the "interference with, interruption of or obstruction of the lawful use of file server computers" operated by a range of Australian companies that received the spam "by means of a telephone facility operated by Telstra," the national telecommunications carrier. Loughnan handed over the 7,000 Australian dollars ($3,647) he received for his part in the scam to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. He was released on a three-year good behavior bond of 5,000 Australian dollars ($2,605).