Sex.com offers reward for cybersquatter capture
The owner of the porn portal is offering a $50,000 reward for the capture of a man who cheated his company out of money by illegally co-opting the site for five years.
In November, Stephen Michael Cohen lost a court battle to maintain the Sex.com name after a federal judge ruled he had usurped it from original owner, Gary Kremen, using fraudulent means.
The judge ordered the domain name returned to Kremen, who is promising a reward for Cohen's arrest. "I just want to get the guy arrested, so he'll have to transfer the money," Kremen said.
Cohen was to appear at a hearing in March but never showed up, so U.S. District Judge James Ware issued an arrest warrant for him. Cohen also has been ordered to pay $65 million in damages to Kremen.
In court documents, Cohen's attorneys said he was being held by police in Mexico, an assertion the judge didn't buy.
Hoping to recover the damages owed to it, Sex.com has posted a notice on a Web site that it would offer up to $50,000 for any information leading to Cohen's arrest. The company said the reward would be divided among people who submit information that results in Cohen's capture by U.S. authorities.
Kremen said he hadn't had any real takers since the reward was posted Wednesday--only a call from a professional bounty hunter who told him he should raise the price.
Sex.com is one of the most coveted domain names on the Web because it's an obvious destination for people searching for Internet porn. The site serves as a portal to a variety of porn sites.