diff --git a/apps/sam/java/src/net/i2p/sam/SAMUtils.java b/apps/sam/java/src/net/i2p/sam/SAMUtils.java
index f80948232..44beee5b0 100644
--- a/apps/sam/java/src/net/i2p/sam/SAMUtils.java
+++ b/apps/sam/java/src/net/i2p/sam/SAMUtils.java
@@ -77,31 +77,27 @@ class SAMUtils {
             return false;
         }
     }
-    
-    public static class InvalidDestinationException extends Exception {
-    	private static final long serialVersionUID = 0x1;
-    }
-
 
     /**
      * Check whether a base64-encoded {dest,privkey,signingprivkey} is valid
      *
      * @param dest The base64-encoded destination and keys to be checked (same format as PrivateKeyFile)
-     *
-     * @throws InvalidDestination if invalid
+     * @return true if valid
      */
-    public static void checkPrivateDestination(String dest) throws InvalidDestinationException {
+    public static boolean checkPrivateDestination(String dest) {
     	ByteArrayInputStream destKeyStream = new ByteArrayInputStream(Base64.decode(dest));
-
     	try {
     		Destination d = new Destination();
     		d.readBytes(destKeyStream);
     		new PrivateKey().readBytes(destKeyStream);
     		SigningPrivateKey spk = new SigningPrivateKey(d.getSigningPublicKey().getType());
     		spk.readBytes(destKeyStream);
-    	} catch (Exception e) {
-    		throw new InvalidDestinationException();
+    	} catch (DataFormatException e) {
+                return false;
+    	} catch (IOException e) {
+                return false;
     	}
+        return destKeyStream.available() == 0;
     }
 
 
diff --git a/apps/sam/java/src/net/i2p/sam/SAMv3Handler.java b/apps/sam/java/src/net/i2p/sam/SAMv3Handler.java
index 1fff83c2e..00d95594a 100644
--- a/apps/sam/java/src/net/i2p/sam/SAMv3Handler.java
+++ b/apps/sam/java/src/net/i2p/sam/SAMv3Handler.java
@@ -500,11 +500,8 @@ class SAMv3Handler extends SAMv1Handler
 						_log.debug("Custom destination specified [" + dest + "]");
 				}
 
-				try {
-					SAMUtils.checkPrivateDestination(dest);
-				} catch ( SAMUtils.InvalidDestinationException e ) {
-                    return writeString("SESSION STATUS RESULT=INVALID_KEY\n");
-				}
+				if (!SAMUtils.checkPrivateDestination(dest))
+					return writeString("SESSION STATUS RESULT=INVALID_KEY\n");
 
 				nick = props.getProperty("ID");
 				if (nick == null) {