XBiz, www.xbiz.com reports that former Sex.com owner Gary Kremen is still chasing down that $65 million unpaid judgment [plus $3 million in interest] from Stephen Michael Cohen. Cohen, Kremen’s former business partner, in 1998, fraudulently converted the valuable domain by submitting a forged document to Network Solutions that won him control of Sex.com in 1995.
Kremen won back the domain in 2001 but has had a tough time hunting down the money.
According to court records, Cohen allegedly transferred $4.5 million between banks shortly before he was arrested in Mexico.
Cohen denies ownership of these accounts and now claims that he’s broke and unable to locate any of the assets accumulated from his time as the Sex.com hijacker.
According to the XBiz story, Kremen by following a paper trail has been able to obtain judgments and injunctions against Cohen’s step daughter ($4.9 million), ex-wife ($1 million) and lawyer ($800,000
And now he’s naming in a lawsuit Cohen’s cousin and an online bank called FNBPay created by the cousin.
A federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order to freeze assets of both FNBPay and a sister company, FNBMexico, that were allegedly used to funnel money through various websites. Those companies are owned by the cousin.
FNBPay, according to Kremen’s suit against Cohen’s cousin, also was used to pay certain of Stephen Michael Cohen’s personal expenses, such as his mortgage.
Cohen’s cousin and FNBPay — have yet to file responses to the court relative to the freezing of a U.S. bank account linked to FNBPay, a Wells Fargo bank account that has $100,000 in funds.
Kremen’s asking the court to order an injunction to restrain the conveyance of property, compensatory damages in the amount of deposit payments at FNBPay and Stephen Michael Cohen’s mortgage payments for his Tijuana home and the principle amount of the unpaid judgment.
Kremen in 2006 sold Sex.com for $14 million to Boston-based Escom LLC in 2006. Escom wound up selling the domain for $13 million to Clover Holdings.