Stephen M. Cohen

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Stephen Michael Cohen obtained the Internet domain name Sex.com by deception on or about September 17, 1995 from the original registrant, Gary Kremen, who had registered it in May 1994. It is estimated that Cohen earned US$100 million between October 1995 and November 2000.

Previously, during 1983 and 1984, Stephen Cohen operated a cord board telephone answering service in Laguna Niguel, California. Later Cohen purchased a house in Rancho Santa Fe.

Steven Cohen's Sex.com Business Card

On November 27, 2000, Kremen recovered Sex.com via a preliminary injunction obtained by his lead attorney, cyberlawyer Charles Carreon. In April 2001, the court ordered damages of $65 million be paid to Kremen. After losing in court, Cohen fled the United States for Mexico.

Subsequently, Federal District Court Judge James A. Ware issued an arrest warrant for Cohen when he refused to respond to the court's order to appear in court. Cohen lived off the proceeds generated during his ownership of Sex.com by using a number of offshore bank accounts.

Cohen was a cellmate of junk bond king Michael Milken and the two men continue to be close friends.

On October 28, 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that Cohen had been arrested in Mexico and turned over to US Authorities. [1]

In early December 2006, Stephen Cohen was released from jail after 'failing to remember' where any of the money owned to Kremem is currently located. Judge Ware stated that his hands were tied by the civil contempt laws and further incarceration of Stephen Cohen would be punitive. Cohen is due back in court on February 26, 2007 to disclose whether he been able to remember where the money is located. [2]

Cohen is a graduate of Van Nuys High School.