SAN DIEGO, CA – Stephen Michael Cohen, who has been on the lamb since he was ordered to pay $65 million to the rightful owner of Sex.com in 2001, was arrested in Tijuana last Thursday and transferred to San Diego, where he is being held without bail.Cohen was arrested on an immigration violation, and subsequently handed over to agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Border Patrol and the Marshals Service.

It’s a fitting turn in the long and twisted tale surrounding Cohen and his theft of Sex.com from entrepreneur Gary Kremen back in 1995, which he accomplished by supplying forged documents to domain registrar Network Solutions.

“I’m excited, and I’m happy to prepare for the next stage of justice,” Kremen told the LA Times on Thursday.

In the years that followed the hijacking of Sex.com, bolstered by the millions he was pulling down from the use of Kremen’s domain, Cohen put up a long and vigorous legal fight. During that time, Cohen moved his assets, and finally himself, out of the country. Kremen got Sex.com back in late 2000, and continued his efforts to secure a financial judgment against Cohen.

In April of 2001, US District Judge James Ware (the same judge presiding over the Acacia case, it is interesting to note) awarded Gary Kremen $40 million in lost revenue and $25 million in damages. The reward was somewhat empty, in that Cohen and his money were both out of ready reach by that stage in the game.

Cohen, never one lacking in audacity, appealed Ware’s decision all the way up to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court finally rejected his appeal in June of 2003, a decision that came as no surprise; in rejecting his arguments, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit characterized Cohen’s appeal as an “egregious abuse of the litigation process.”

The $65 million owed to Kremen has ballooned to $82 million with interest, as Cohen hasn’t paid down a dime in the interim. Whether Cohen’s arrest will lead to Kremen recovering more of the money he is owed remains and open question.

Kremen told the Los Angeles Times he hoped to claim more of Cohen’s assets. “Hopefully,” he said, “I’ll get to them before the IRS.”