Seattle ? Robert Soloway abdicated his throne as king of Internet spammers Tuesday when he apologized in court for being a “nuisance” to tens of millions of computer users before being sentenced to 47 months in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $708,000.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman told the 28-year-old Soloway that he was being made an example of – but not to the extent federal prosecutors had sought. His sentence was less than half of the nine-year sentence the government had argued for during a nearly three-day sentencing hearing.

The government, which dubbed Soloway “the king of spam,” has shown that he made more than $700,000 in sales of his spamming software between 2005 and 2007. Soloway said he is deeply in debt and owes more than $17 million in civil judgments.