A Las Vegas man, who calls himself “Spam King” is facing charges for breaking into Facebook accounts and sending more than 27 million spam messages to users in 2008 and 2009.

Sanford Wallace pleaded not guilty during an initial court appearance Thursday after being indicted July 6 on six counts of electronic mail fraud, three counts of intentional damage to a protected computer and two counts of criminal contempt.

Wallace allegedly used phishing attack to steal usernames and passwords and then posted the spam on the users’ wall in the social networking site.

People who clicked on the link thinking it came from their friends were redirected to a website that paid Wallace for the Internet traffic he pulled.

Facebook had sued Wallace in 2009 under federal anti-spam laws, prompting a judge to order a banning him from using the website but he had violated that order within a month.

"We will continue to pursue and support both civil and criminal consequences for spammers or others who attempt to harm Facebook or the people who use our service," Chris Sonderby, Facebook's lead security and investigations counsel, said in a statement.

Wallace was released after posting $100,000 bond on Thursday, and he's due back in court on Aug. 22.

Court Marketing Facebook Facebook