YNOT – In a deal that could make one of the internet’s most notorious domain names also one of its most expensive, a mysterious company located in the Caribbean has offered $13 million for Sex.com. Owner Escom LLC plans to accept the offer, pending approval by the California court overseeing Escom’s bankruptcy proceedings.Clover Holdings Ltd., based on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent, was the highest of 12 private bidders for the domain name that seems to have represented a virtual sword of Damocles for every owner since its initial registration in 1994. Although the exact figure Escom tendered for the domain in 2006 never has been revealed, informed estimates place Escom’s investment as high as $14 million.
Thus far, not much is known about Clover Holdings, which seems to wish to keep a low profile. The company’s registered email address, according to documents filed with the bankruptcy court, is at Hushmail.com, a free email provider that since 1999 has offered anonymous, encrypted email hosting.
The bankruptcy court is expected to approve or deny the sale after an Oct. 27 hearing.
Originally registered by serial entrepreneur Gary Kremen, Sex.com became the subject of a five-year legal odyssey that began in 2000 when convicted conman Stephen Michael Cohen hijacked the domain by hoodwinking employees of registrar Network Solutions. Kremen reclaimed the domain and a $65 million judgment after a running legal battle that included claims of poverty, Cohen’s flight to Mexico, and a Quentin Tarantino-esque assassination attempt on Cohen’s attorney. Both Kremen and Cohen claimed the other was responsible for the shooting that injured the attorney’s driver and a five-year-old boy.
After a subsequent flight to Europe, Cohen eventually was captured in Tijuana in 2005 and extradited to the U.S., where he was jailed on civil contempt charges after claiming he could not recall where he stashed the money he made while he possessed Sex.com. Cohen was released from a California prison in 2006, the same year Kremen sold Sex.com to Escom. Kremen seized real property in California and Mexico to satisfy part of the judgment, but he never did find the money. Cohen’s current whereabouts are unknown.
Though Escom had big plans for the domain — which reportedly raked in as much as $500,000 a month for Cohen as a pay-per-click directory — Escom failed to find a profitable business model. Earlier this year, one of the company’s creditors forced the domain to auction, but a few days before the auction commenced, Escom’s complicated ownership web unraveled. One faction filed a petition for involuntary bankruptcy and froze all of Escom’s assets, including Sex.com.
A court-approved deal in June sent the domain to domain broker Sedo, which put Sex.com on the market in July. The domain was scheduled to go on the public block next week if no one presented an acceptable offer before then.
