Ameriquest settles with Robert Braver

In a nutshell, spam-fighter Robert Braver responded to a few mortgage spams in order to see who was behind them. One of the spamming mortage companies was Ameriquest, whom Braver duly sued under the CAN-SPAM act and the Oklahoma anti-spamming law.

One interesting twist in the story was that one of the defendants in the case, Lead Association — whose name came up in discovery — then sued Braver for $1M, claiming his actions had cost them their lucrative contract with Ameriquest. The core of their claim was that Braver had signed up under a false name (a practice akin to using a tagged email address in order to track a spammer) and that this constituted fraud in some way.

At any rate, the case has now been settled. As with most out-of-court settlements, the details are not available to me, but I do know that Lead Association's counterclaim against Braver has been dismissed, that Ameriquest has essentially ceased its retail loan operations, and that Braver says the case has been settled to his satisfaction.

For the full backstory, see www.mortgagespam.com.