It seems to be the story that wouldn’t die. With as many dramatic twists and turns as a Quentin Tarantino film, the long saga of Sex.com continued as the Mexican lawyer of the man who stole the popular Internet domain became the target of an apparent assassination attempt.
Gustavo Cortés Carvajal was driving in Tijuana last week when several gunmen reportedly opened fire on the vehicle in which he was traveling, injuring both the driver and a four-year-old boy. Cortés himself was not hurt.
Cortés is believed to be the only person with access to some of the Mexican assets of Stephen Cohen, who hijacked control of Sex.com after convincing an employee of Network Solutions to pass the domain on to him in 2000.
Coincidentally, Cohen was ordered released from prison on the same day the shooting occurred in order to come up with the $65 million he was ordered to pay Sex.com founder Gary Kremen.
Kremen, a programmer who parlayed his knowledge into a career as an Internet entrepreneur, registered the domain in 1994. After Cohen swiped the domain, Kremen sued and regained control of the site in 2001. Instead of paying the court-ordered compensation and punitive damages, Cohen fled to Mexico, where he remained a fugitive until he was arrested, returned to the United States, and jailed on civil contempt charges in 2005. Claiming he could not remember the names and numbers of the bank accounts where he’d stashed his money, Cohen convinced a judge to release him in order to locate the information. He was released on Dec. 5, and, though some claim to have been in touch with him, his whereabouts are unknown.
Kremen, who said that several people helping him retrieve his assets from Cohen have received threatening letters and phone calls that were traced back to Cortés, told RedHerring.com, “I am concerned for my safety.” He went on to say that, while there is no evidence to suggest Cohen was involved in the Cortés assassination attempt, he would not rule that out, citing a video tape of Cohen’s Dec. 5 deposition as the source of his speculation. “Cohen is very, very mad at his attorney,” Kremen told AVNOnline.com. “We have it on videotape.”
Kremen’s attorney, Tim Dillon, acknowledged the existence of the video, and that Cohen appeared to be less than fond of Cortés. “He indicated that he was not a friend of Gustavo’s,” Dillon told AVNOnline.com. “During the deposition, there were some statements, basically about whether Gustavo was his attorney, in which he expressed some frustration.
“There are a few people who probably don’t like Gustavo, and Steve [Cohen] may be one of them,” Dillon went on to say. “While Steve was in jail, Gustavo was controlling his assets, and I’m confident that Gustavo was acting in the best interests of Gustavo, not Steve. And when Steve was getting out, he probably learned that Gustavo was taking these assets and keeping them in his own name.”
Dillon also mentioned the sudden emergence of $1 million in ransom money that Cortés produced when he was kidnapped in Mexico earlier this year. “[O]ur understanding is that some of that money originated from a quote-unquote ‘mysterious source,’ which likely was part of Steve’s money,” he said. “But do I have the paperwork to back that up? No I don’t.”
Dillon said Cohen telephoned him on Friday of last week, but did not give an address for his whereabouts. “He’s hanging out somewhere,” Dillon said.
Cohen has until Feb. 26 to return to court with the court-ordered payment.
Kremen sold Sex.com to Boston-based Escom LLC in January 2006.
