A man who terrified his customers with threats of death and rape so his business would appear higher up on Google searches has been sentenced to four years in jail.
Vitaly Borker, 36, from New York, was also ordered to pay almost $100,000 in restitution and fines when he was was handed down his sentence yesterday.
Borker, who owned and operated DecorMyEyes from his home in Brooklyn, pleaded guilty in May 2011 to charges of fraud and sending threatening communications and admitted scaring dissatisfied customers with phone calls and e-mails.
He emailed one client with an image of their home, told another’s workplace their staff member was a gay drug dealer and sent warnings such as ‘I know where you live’.
He threatened another with rape and dismemberment.
Borker said dozens of complaints by frightened customers helped elevate his website’s position on Google searches, reported the New York Times.
This prompted Google to look at the issue and change its search algorithm so no company could positively use negative feedback.
‘We can say with reasonable confidence that being bad to customers is bad for business on Google,’ a spokesman said at the time.
Borker used aliases to threaten death or sexual assault on customers.
‘I was answering personally about 100 e-mails a day and lost control of what I was saying at times,’ he told Judge Richard J. Sullivan in Manhattan Federal District Court last year.
‘I want to apologize to everyone I hurt in connection with my actions, especially those people I threatened,’ claiming business pressures explained his actions.
Victim: Clarabelle Rodriguez said Borker's threats made her scared in her own home and said caused her to look over her shoulder when she was out
Successful: Borker sold 100,000 pairs of fake eyeglasses between 2006 and 2010
‘I never had an intention to harm anyone and I never did anything to carry out these threats.
'I wrote these emails to scare these customers away. At the time I did this I did not realize how bad it was.'
Victim Clarabelle Rodriguez of Manhattan was the first one to report his actions to police. She said Borker's threats made her scared in her own home and said caused her to look over her shoulder when she was out.
‘Vitaly Borker was a cyberbully who subjected his victims to abusive, profanity-laced tirades, and threats of physical violence,’ Preet Bharara, prosecuting, said.
‘He used fraud and intimidation as a business model, selling customers inferior goods and then repeatedly harassing them when they complained.’
The judge described his threats at an earlier hearing as ‘chilling’.
Borker pleaded guilty to the mail and wire fraud counts after being accused of selling counterfeit merchandise - such as knock-offs of eyewear brands.
He is facing more than six years in jail and sentencing is set for September. But Dominic Amorosa, defending, said he expected a top sentence of 18 months.
Borker sold 100,000 pairs of eyeglasses between 2006 and 2010.
