Posted on 10/29/2005 9:39:48 PM PDT by nickcarraway
SAN DIEGO – An ex-Rancho Santa Fe man sought for failing to appear in court after a $65 million judgement was entered against him in a pornographic Web site dispute was ordered today to be extradited to San Jose.
Stephen Michael Cohen, 57, had been living in Tijuana and was reportedly arrested yesterday by Mexican authorities when he tried to apply for a work permit.
He was turned over to U.S. officials, who had an arrest warrant signed by a San Jose judge, and taken to San Diego.
In San Diego, U.S. Magistrate Judge Leo Papas was poised to set a hearing to establish Cohen's identity when the man admitted he was who authorities were looking for.
"I am Stephen Michael Cohen and I'm the person who is on that warrant," Cohen told the judge.
A man named Gary Kremen reportedly battled Cohen for years over the www.sex.com Web site, and has tallied up $4.5 million in legal fees.
After six years of litigation, Kremen persuaded a San Jose federal judge to award him a $65 million judgment against Cohen, who, the court found, hijacked the domain name.
The Web site in question is primarily a bulletin board with ads for other Web sites offering sexual content, and at times has allegedly generated up to $1 million a month.
After the judgement was issued, Cohen failed to appear in court and, in 2001, a judge issued an arrest warrant charging him with contempt of court.
The warrant reportedly orders Cohen to remain imprisoned until he returns $25 million, which the judge said was illegally transferred outside the country.
Cohen unsuccessfully asked Papas to allow him to stay in San Diego for a few days so he could talk to his attorney and work out a settlement in the Web site dispute.
not tiajunna
("Denny Crane: Gun Control? For Communists. She's a liberal. Can't hunt.")
He just wanted to do the work that Mexicans wouldn't do.
If I recall properly that this case stems from forging a transfer of the domain name from one owner to another. At least one judge (maybe not in this case) has ruled that a domain name is not property though.
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