It then proceeded to spam all of my contacts, pretending to be me, several times.

Because Gmail collects addresses automatically, it sent spam to ex-employers, ex-girlfriends, and clients. It was an absolute nightmare. It makes me angry thinking about it to this day.

If there's any company I wouldn't trust with your email, it's LinkedIn. Their practices are absolutely disgusting and unethical. I believe there's a class-action suit against them for this exact issue.