Marc Collins-Rector

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marc Collins-Rector (born in 1960) is an American businessman best known for founding Digital Entertainment Network, an online streaming video broadcaster and a notable dot-com failure.

Contents

[edit] Early life

He changed his name from Mark Rector to Marc Collins-Rector in 1998[1].

In the early 1980s Rector founded Telequest, a Florida-based telecommunications company. In 1984 Rector founded World TravelNet, a company to electronically coordinate cruises and tours and whose affiliate, World ComNet was floated on the Vancouver Stock Exchange in 1987. Its valuation briefly peaked at $100 million before increasing competition led to bankruptcy[1]. Rector later founded an early ISP, Concentric Network[2], in 1991[3] along with colleague Chad Shackley.

[edit] DEN

Main article: Digital Entertainment Network

Rector and Shackley sold Concentric in 1995 and, using money raised here and close to $100m of investor and venture capital, formed an early Internet video pioneer, Digital Entertainment Network. Collins-Rector was the co-founder and Chairman of DEN, which exhausted its funding following a failed IPO bid and collapsed amid allegations that Collins-Rector had sexually abused children, coercing them with drugs and guns[4].

[edit] Child enticement conviction

Collins-Rector fled to Europe, ending up in Spain. He fought extradition proceedings for two years before returning to the United States, where he pleaded guilty to eight charges of child enticement and registered as a sex offender[5]. Collins-Rector admitted luring five minors across state lines for sexual purposes[6]. He received credit for time that he had served in a Spanish jail. Some of his victims sued in civil court, winning a $4.5 million under a summary judgement.

[edit] Later career

Media reports claim that Collins-Rector is a silent partner in the MMORPG service company IGE, which was founded by ex-DEN VP Brock Pierce.[4] IGE initially used an address in the city of Marbella, Spain, where Collins-Rector, Shackely, and Pierce shared a villa until it was raided by Interpol in 2002[7][8].

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b latimes-josephmenn.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-16.
  2. ^ secinfo.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
  3. ^ businessweek.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
  4. ^ a b radar.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
  5. ^ Florida Sex Offender Registry. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
  6. ^ usatoday.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
  7. ^ vnu.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
  8. ^ nypost.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
This article about an American businessperson born in the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.