A Las Vegas man has pleaded guilty to fraud and criminal contempt after he sent more than 27 million spam messages through Facebook.

Sanford Wallace, who is known as the "Spam King", faces a maximum prison sentence of three years and a fine of $250,000 (£160,000).

Wallace tricked people into revealing their login details which he then used to access half a million accounts.

He then used those accounts to send spam to other Facebook users.

The charges against Wallace included fraud and criminal contempt in connection with misusing electronic mail, according to a statement from the district attorney.

One of Wallace's strategies for distributing spam involved targeting Facebook users with bogus "friend requests", which were in fact disguised advertisements.

As part of the guilty plea, he admitted to knowingly violating an order not to access Facebook's computer network.

The move to prosecute Wallace relates to a complaint filed in 2011, which was the result of an FBI investigation.

He will be sentenced on 2 December.