A text message spammer was ordered by...

A text message spammer was ordered by the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to pay $148,309 and found in violation of a 2011 FTC consent decree, said a Thursday FTC release (http://1.usa.gov/1powfXO). It said Phil Flora sent over 29 million text messages promising “free” $1,000 gift cards to Walmart and Best Buy. The original FTC settlement alleged consumers were paying unwanted fees for receiving Flora’s text messages and that he was selling information collected through responses to the text messages. In March 2013, the FTC cited Flora as a defendant in a new enforcement action, it said. The U.S. District Court in L.A. eventually reached a decision against Flora (http://1.usa.gov/1nHsZVy) and held him in civil contempt for violating the FTC settlement (http://1.usa.gov/1jxAloy), the agency said. Neither Flora nor his representatives could not be reached for comment.