With five million page views every day, sex.com was the most valuable piece of virtual real estate on the planet. But the fact that it didn’t physically exist didn’t mean that it couldn’t be stolen. With an ingenious scam—the full details of which have never been revealed until now—lifelong con man Stephen Cohen was able to snatch the domain name and walk into a life of untold wealth and luxury.
But Cohen underestimated the determination of Gary Kremen—sex.com’s original owner—to get his property back. It took ten years and millions of dollars, but Kremen eventually saw, and, on occasion, forced Cohen to pay for his crimes.
This is the inside story of the extraordinary battle between two extraordinary men: a Stanford scholar with uncanny foresight, and an uneducated, genius con man with an unnatural gift for persuasion. The fight pushed each man to the edge, rewrote the law, and shaped the history and development of the Internet as we know it.
But Cohen underestimated the determination of Gary Kremen—sex.com’s original owner—to get his property back. It took ten years and millions of dollars, but Kremen eventually saw, and, on occasion, forced Cohen to pay for his crimes.
This is the inside story of the extraordinary battle between two extraordinary men: a Stanford scholar with uncanny foresight, and an uneducated, genius con man with an unnatural gift for persuasion. The fight pushed each man to the edge, rewrote the law, and shaped the history and development of the Internet as we know it.
