Stephen M. Cohen

Stephen M. Cohen’s Sex.com business card

Stephen Michael Cohen (b. February 23, 1948)^[1] is an American convicted felon^[1][2][3] best known for his fradulent acquisition of the domain name Sex.com.^[4][5] He was also involved in the controversial peer-to-peer service EarthStation 5.^[6][7]

Early life

Cohen was born in Los Angeles^[1][8] and attended Van Nuys High School in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles.^[1][5]

Early career and convictions

In 1975, Cohen was convicted of grand theft and check-kiting.^[9][2]

In the 1980s, he operated a paid-membership bulletin board system (BBS) called the French Connection, geared toward Swinging and other sexual topics,^[8][2] and by the late 1980s, he organized swinger get-togethers at a home in Orange County, California. In 1990, he was arrested for operating a sex club in a residential zone. He relocated the enterprise and charges were dropped.^[2] In 1991, he was convicted in a bankruptcy fraud scheme in which he forged documents and assumed other identities. He was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison, and was released on February 1, 1995.^[2]

Sex.com

Stephen M. Cohen’s Sex.com business card

Cohen fraudulently obtained the lucrative Internet domain name Sex.com in May 1995 from the original registrant, Gary Kremen, who had registered it in May 1994. Cohen obtained the domain by means of a forged letter to domain registrar Network Solutions, faxed from Kremen's company "Online Classified", fraudulently stating that Kremen had been dismissed and the firm was abandoning the domain and that Cohen could have it. Network Solutions blindly accepted the fax with no verification and transferred the domain to Cohen, an action that would prove grounds for a later civil suit by Kremen against Network Solutions.^[4]<ref name'"KRE">Kremen v. Network Solutions, Inc. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. James Ware, District Judge, Presiding. Argued August 13, 2002. Submitted July 25, 2003—San Francisco, California. Filed July 25, 2003. Before: Alex Kozinski and M. Margaret McKeown, Circuit Judges, and James M. Fitzgerald, District Judge. Opinion by Judge Kozinski. </ref> It is estimated that Cohen illegally earned US$100 million between October 1995 and November 2000 from his ownership of sex.com.

In April 2001, the court ordered damages of $65 million be paid to Kremen. Cohen then fled to Tijuana, Mexico where he was arrested on October 28, 2005.^[3] On that same day, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of California filed federal civil contempt charges in San Diego, California against Cohen for violation of a court order under 18 U.S.C. §401.^[10] As of 2005 the amount of damages owed to Kremen had increased to $82 million with interest.^[3]

Cohen was released from custody on December 5, 2006, by Judge Ware because Kremen's lawyers had been unable to uncover Cohen's offshore bank accounts.^[11]

Since then, Cohen has not paid the $67 million judgement, and pleads poverty. Courts have ruled in Kremen's favor several times since 2006, with evidence that seven individuals, including some of Cohen's family members, and twelve companies were used to help him hide the money.^[12][13]

EarthStation 5

Cohen was involved in EarthStation 5.^[7]

References