AP Report: Companies to Forfeit Escorts.com Domain Name

An Associated Press report citing US District Court records states that “National A-1 Advertising Inc. and R.S. Duffy Inc. agreed to plead guilty to money laundering conspiracy and will forfeit $4.9 million, pay a $1.5 million fine and serve 1 1/2 years of probation.” This is allegedly related to the operation of Escorts.com.

The report on the ABC News website stated that the companies that were charged have “forfeited the domain name,” although a Whois record indicates that Escorts.com doesn’t seem to have been transferred yet. The website is no longer operational, and there’s a message on the home page that states, “This Domain is Not in Use.”

Just over a year ago, the FBI raided the company’s Philadelphia headquarters, although official word about the investigation entailed was not released. There had been some speculation that it was related to the Escorts.com website, but I don’t recall seeing anything officially released.

The companies that were mentioned employ a considerable amount of people, and I certainly hope this will bring closure to the situation, to give some level of job security to its employees.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

2 COMMENTS

  1. Wow, so what’s the play with the name once it get’s transferred to the DOJ?

    Will the DOJ just let it drop? Will they give it back (like in the Pokerstars and Full Tilt raids)?

    This will be interesting to watch

Leave a Reply

Recent Posts

Trademarkia Hiring Lead Developer for Domain Registrar Integration

0
Trademarkia is a website I use occasionally to perform trademark-related searches. This morning, I noticed a job listing the company posted on LinkedIn that...

SquadHelp Ultra Premium Marketplace Goes Live

7
🎉 It's here! The Ultra-Premium Marketplace is live We've partnered with @HilcoDigital to curate an incredible collection of domains. More additions coming soon! 🌟 Check it...

ROTD Auction Web3 Domain Names

3
According to a press release I received a moment ago, Right of the Dot is auctioning "Web3" domain names in partnership with Unstoppable Domains....

Sage.ai Dispute Gives Guidance on Common One Word Domains

2
The latest #UDRP Digest (Vol 3.37) is out now! Read about some interesting cases including #sage.ai, #stable.com, #extenso.org and more, with commentary from @dnattorney...

BuyDomains Discontinues Sharing Domain Name Sales

2
BuyDomains owns and operates a very large domain name portfolio consisting of hundreds of thousands of domain names - possibly millions. Many of the...