A man accused of being one of the globe's top 10 most prolific spammers has been arrested.

Robert Soloway, 27, from Seattle, Washington, appeared in a US court yesterday, accused of a series mail fraud, email fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

Mr Soloway has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Prosecutors say Mr Soloway became one of the world's biggest spammers, using botnets – networks of private computers infected with malware - to send out spam from 2003.

It is the first time federal prosecutors have used identity theft laws to prosecute a spammer for taking over someone else's internet domain name, theoretically leaving Mr Soloway facing a long prison sentence.

Prosecutor Kathryn Warma said authorities were seeking to seize $773,550 (£391,000) they believe Mr Soloway made from his business, Newport Internet Marketing Corp.

Mr Soloway continued his activities even after Microsoft won a £3.5m civil judgment against him in 2005, and the operator of a small internet service provider in Oklahoma won a £5m judgment, prosecutors said.

If convicted of all the charges, he faces a fine of $250,000 (£126,500) and a maximum prison term of 65 years.