PornoDoggy
11-04-2005, 10:35 PM
SAN FRANCISCO — The high-stakes manhunt that ended with the cuffing of Internet porn site thief Stephen Cohen last week in Tijuana may seem like the happy conclusion to a sordid tale of greed, sex, and the excesses of the Internet gold rush.
But for Web entrepreneur Gary Kremen, the founder of Match.com, the Oct. 28 arrest simply represents the start of a new, difficult chapter: the one in which he and his attorneys try to force Cohen to cough up the millions he owes him.
Four years ago, after a lengthy legal battle, a federal judge found that Cohen — a convicted felon who has served prison stints for forgery and impersonating a lawyer — had hijacked the domain name Sex.com, which Kremen registered in 1995.
The court found that Cohen stole the URL by forging a letter from Kremen's company, and then turned Sex.com into a lucrative pornography Web site that generated between $40 and $60 million in profits.
In 2001, U.S. District Court Judge James Ware ordered Cohen to pay $65 million to Kremen. Cohen instead fled to his estate in Tijuana. The settlement figure, with interest, now stands at $82 million.
Cohen is slated to appear before Ware on contempt of court charges Monday in San Jose, Calif.
The 57-year-old fugitive was arrested Oct. 28 while applying to renew his Mexican work visa. U.S. marshal Don Vazquez said he had a confidential source that provided details of Cohen's whereabouts.
Vazquez said he had chased Cohen in the past, and that his interest in the case was revived on June 28 when Jhuliana Aramis Cohen, the 21-year-old daughter of Cohen's former wife Rosa, was arrested trying to cross San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing with 202 pounds of marijuana. She was sentenced last week to 10 months in federal prison.
azquez notified Mexican immigration officials, who were on the lookout for Cohen when he showed up for a routine visa renewal.
"I was at the border waiting for him," Vazquez said. "He tried to talk his way out of it. He was trying very hard to figure out a way not to be expelled from the Republic of Mexico."
'It's classic Steve'
After a jailhouse interview Tuesday, Kremen's attorney Timothy Dillon said Cohen was "heavily medicated and fairly relaxed," but that the discussion was not promising.
"He told me he was flat broke," Dillon said.
The attorney said Cohen offered to settle with Kremen for $100,000 cash, plus three properties. Dillon called the offer laughable — and said it has not improved since the initial discussion.
Stephen Cohen
"I understand his offer is now $75,000 and two pieces of property," Dillon said. "I think it's classic Steve. Here he is sitting in jail, and his offer is decreasing."
Kremen's June 28 lawsuit accuses Cohen of using Jhuliana and six other business associates to fraudulently transfer and conceal his assets in violation of the 2001 judgment.
Dillon said Cohen's money is tied up in ventures including a shrimp farm in Mexico, operated by longtime business associate Jack Hanna Brownfield, and The Bolero strip club in Tijuana, which is in his daughter's name.
Brownfield, who has known Cohen since 1973, said he is not hiding any of his assets.
"Anything that is being hidden is being hidden by Steve for Steve," he said. "I don't know anything about pornography. You want to know something about shrimp, come talk to me."
Fuck ... 10 months for 202 pounds of pot? That's a goddamned Opera singer ..
balance of article http://www.courttv.com/news/2005/1103/cohen_ctv.html?link=newsletter
http://www.courttv.com/news/2005/1103/cohen_ctv.html?link=newsletter
But for Web entrepreneur Gary Kremen, the founder of Match.com, the Oct. 28 arrest simply represents the start of a new, difficult chapter: the one in which he and his attorneys try to force Cohen to cough up the millions he owes him.
Four years ago, after a lengthy legal battle, a federal judge found that Cohen — a convicted felon who has served prison stints for forgery and impersonating a lawyer — had hijacked the domain name Sex.com, which Kremen registered in 1995.
The court found that Cohen stole the URL by forging a letter from Kremen's company, and then turned Sex.com into a lucrative pornography Web site that generated between $40 and $60 million in profits.
In 2001, U.S. District Court Judge James Ware ordered Cohen to pay $65 million to Kremen. Cohen instead fled to his estate in Tijuana. The settlement figure, with interest, now stands at $82 million.
Cohen is slated to appear before Ware on contempt of court charges Monday in San Jose, Calif.
The 57-year-old fugitive was arrested Oct. 28 while applying to renew his Mexican work visa. U.S. marshal Don Vazquez said he had a confidential source that provided details of Cohen's whereabouts.
Vazquez said he had chased Cohen in the past, and that his interest in the case was revived on June 28 when Jhuliana Aramis Cohen, the 21-year-old daughter of Cohen's former wife Rosa, was arrested trying to cross San Diego's San Ysidro border crossing with 202 pounds of marijuana. She was sentenced last week to 10 months in federal prison.
azquez notified Mexican immigration officials, who were on the lookout for Cohen when he showed up for a routine visa renewal.
"I was at the border waiting for him," Vazquez said. "He tried to talk his way out of it. He was trying very hard to figure out a way not to be expelled from the Republic of Mexico."
'It's classic Steve'
After a jailhouse interview Tuesday, Kremen's attorney Timothy Dillon said Cohen was "heavily medicated and fairly relaxed," but that the discussion was not promising.
"He told me he was flat broke," Dillon said.
The attorney said Cohen offered to settle with Kremen for $100,000 cash, plus three properties. Dillon called the offer laughable — and said it has not improved since the initial discussion.
Stephen Cohen
"I understand his offer is now $75,000 and two pieces of property," Dillon said. "I think it's classic Steve. Here he is sitting in jail, and his offer is decreasing."
Kremen's June 28 lawsuit accuses Cohen of using Jhuliana and six other business associates to fraudulently transfer and conceal his assets in violation of the 2001 judgment.
Dillon said Cohen's money is tied up in ventures including a shrimp farm in Mexico, operated by longtime business associate Jack Hanna Brownfield, and The Bolero strip club in Tijuana, which is in his daughter's name.
Brownfield, who has known Cohen since 1973, said he is not hiding any of his assets.
"Anything that is being hidden is being hidden by Steve for Steve," he said. "I don't know anything about pornography. You want to know something about shrimp, come talk to me."
Fuck ... 10 months for 202 pounds of pot? That's a goddamned Opera singer ..
balance of article http://www.courttv.com/news/2005/1103/cohen_ctv.html?link=newsletter
http://www.courttv.com/news/2005/1103/cohen_ctv.html?link=newsletter