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20 Mar 2007
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) has terminated the Registrar Accreditation agreement for RegisterFly, which lets individuals and companies register .com, .net and other internet domains.
"Icann has been frustrated and distressed by recent management confusion inside RegisterFly," said Icann chief executive Paul Twomey.
Customer service at RegisterFly has nosedived after a management struggle between chief executive John Naruzewicz and his former partner.
Naruzewicz fired the company's chief executive and co-founder Kevin Medina in February, alleging that he stole company resources to support his lavish lifestyle.
The struggle has caused disruptions in RegisterFly's service to customers, prompting Icann to start an inquiry on 21 February that could result in termination of the Registrar Accreditation agreement.
Medina said in a court filing that such a move would be a "devastating (if not death) blow".
At a court hearing on 9 March Medina reclaimed the top management position and was determined to be the sole proprietor of the business.
He also accused his co-founder of destroying the $8m company that claims to be the 15th largest domain registrar in the US.
Court documents read like a television soap opera, with lawyers and former lovers accused of defrauding their opponents out of their legal properties.
Medina portrays Naruzewicz as a person with a "tenth grade education and few technical skills" who has an "inability to deal with customers" and who squandered company funds on $60,000 Moroccan furniture and down payments on a Florida home.
Naruzewicz accuses his former lover of using company funds to pay for a $10,000 Miami penthouse, $6,000 worth of liposuction and $27,000 for a " personal escort".
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Info: How to save and moved your registerfly domains including protected domains
How to moved your registerfly domains including protected domains before they will lost . RegisterFly will not be a domain reseller in march 2007, and all your domain there is in risk of losing, spicily whois protected domains !. so how to save your domain: 1. Create A New Register Fly Account. 2. Login into the Old RegisterFly Account. 3. Click on Manage Domains 4. Click A Domain Name 5. Click On Change Ownership 6. Click On ?Push your names to another user? 7. Click Continue 8. Enter The User ID of The New RegisterFly Account 9. Verify The User ID of The New RegisterFly Account is Correct 10. Click Continue 11. Select Each Domain Name to Push 12. Check the Check Box Marked ?Change the Whois/Contact info on the names being pushed? *** Check This Box Only if your Domains are Showing ProtectFly Information on a Whois Database, If it?s Showing your Real Information with Working Email Then Continue Without Checking the Check Box *** 13. Login into Your New RegisterFly Account, Your Recently Transferred Domains Should Be All Unlocked. 14. Click Change Whois Information And Get Authorization Code for Each Domain. 15. Wait about 2 Days until changes are updated to the world. 15. Begin Transfer to New Registrar.
Posted by: Erez Rubinstein 02 Jun 2007
Class Action Lawsuit Filed
27 March 2007 Winston-Salem, NC - Today, an Order by U.S. District Court Judge William Osteen was released, unsealing a class action lawsuit (Anne Martinez v RegisterFly, ICANN et. al.) filed by Attorney E. Clarke Dummit against Internet domain Registrar, RegisterFly, and the corporation charged with accreditation and oversight of Registrars, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ("ICANN"). The lawsuit alleges that RegisterFly systematically defrauded its customers who attempted to register or renew Internet domain names. Anne Martinez has brought the suit as a class action on her own behalf and for the thousands who are still being harmed by RegisterFly and ICANN. To get up to date information about the Class Action visit www.registerfly-lawsuit.com When it was filed March 13th, 2007 the lawsuit was placed under seal because it alleged that RegisterFly owner Kevin Medina had acted vindictively toward domain name owners, or registrants, in the past when registrants complained about RegisterFly's service. While the case was under seal, the Court heard arguments from ICANN as to whether ICANN could protect registrants from RegisterFly. Although ICANN alleged that Medina, the sole owner of RegisterFly, acted vindictively towards registrants in the past, and ICANN has publicly stated that it could not protect the victims, the Court unsealed the lawsuit and granted Medina and RegisterFly the opportunity to be heard on the Plaintiffs' motion for an Injunction Ordering RegisterFly to provide the Plaintiffs with the information necessary to transfer their domain names, and ordering that RegisterFly immediately provide the data to ICANN to protect existing domain registrations from permanent loss. RegisterFly.com, Inc. is an ICANN accredited domain Registrar that is able to directly register domain names worldwide. According to RegisterFly's website, it is one of the ten largest internet domain name Registrars, boasting a client list that includes the Government of Thailand, Michael Jackson, and the Easter Seals Charity. ICANN is a non-profit corporation that is charged by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the international community with accrediting Registrars and governing the registration of domain names and use of Internet Protocol Addresses (IP Addresses). As per the lawsuit, many of RegisterFly's nearly one million customers are in immediate danger of losing their domain names and more than 75,000 individuals have already lost domain names registered through RegisterFly. In the complaint and subsequent filings, attorney Dummit has alleged that ICANN had full knowledge of RegisterFly's fraudulent activities for over a year and took no substantive action until the lawsuit was filed. The lawsuit maintains that ICANN profited from RegisterFly's use of its accreditation and posting of ICANN's logo on the site, but ICANN failed to enforce the terms of the contract RegisterFly customers relied on when registering domains. The day after attorney Dummit served ICANN with this class action lawsuit, ICANN finally gave notice of termination of ICANN's accreditation of RegisterFly. Lead Plaintiff, Anne Martinez, has expressed her fear that Medina may shut down her website www.goCertify.com, which is the sole source of support for her and her children. Ms. Martinez explained her apprehension and irritation, stating "if Medina illegally shuts down my registration, I could end up losing my business and my home. Unfortunately, it does not appear as if ICANN cares or will do anything to help the thousands of people out there just like me. It seems that after ICANN found out about this lawsuit, it decided to protect its own image, but not to help the many registrants facing the loss of their domains and businesses." Referring to a March 26, 2007 "fact sheet" published by ICANN that claims, among other things, that "ICANN has never approved RegisterFly as an accredited registrar," a frustrated Martinez said, "[e]ven today, while thousands of us are still trying desperately to get our domains protected, ICANN is spending time and energies on spin rather than enforcement." Like many others, Martinez has made multiple attempts to transfer the domain names she registered through RegisterFly to other Registrars. However, RegisterFly and Medina have locked her and thousands of others' access to the name registration in an apparent attempt to keep customers hostage during an unrelated lawsuit, disputing ownership of RegisterFly. In an unrelated lawsuit filed February 12, 2007 in New Jersey Federal District Court, former RegisterFly CEO, John Naruszewicz, indicated that he was Kevin Medina's former lover and that they had a falling out over the mismanagement of RegisterFly. After firing Medina from his position as CEO, Naruszewicz filed suit against Medina - based on Naruszewicz's asserted fifty percent ownership of RegisterFly - seeking legal control of RegisterFly. Naruszewicz alleged in his lawsuit that Medina misused company funds, precluding RegisterFly from paying registration fees to keep its customers' registrations valid. Additionally, Naruszewicz claimed that Medina deleted passwords and locked customer billing information to prevent the issuance of refunds. Among the alleged misuses of company money were: $27,000 for an escort service; $6,000 for a liposuction procedure; $10,000 a month for a penthouse apartment in Miami, Florida; and $6,000 for a Chihuahua dog. New Jersey Court documents claimed that the misappropriation of company funds directly caused the loss of 75,000 customer domain names, in January alone, due to RegisterFly's inability to pay registration fees. In his counterclaim, Medina claimed that his ex-lover Naruszewicz spent $60,000 of company money on Moroccan furniture and down payments on a Florida home. The New Jersey Court determined that Naruszewicz did not actually own fifty percent of RegisterFly because Medina successfully demonstrated that Naruszewicz had not paid for his stock. Therefore, on March 8th, the Judge in New Jersey put Medina back in full control of RegisterFly. RegisterFly acted as a domain name reseller for eNom until it became an ICANN Registrar in February 2006. By February 2007, RegisterFly was Registrar for approximately 2,000,000 domain names held by about 900,000 customers. eNom formally severed ties with RegisterFly in February 2007 over continued consumer complaints. According to a notice sent by ICANN to RegisterFly on February 21, 2007, ICANN began having problems with Medina and RegisterFly months after accrediting RegisterFly. The lawsuit alleges that regardless of its knowledge, ICANN proceeded to ignore RegisterFly's flagrant violations of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement ("RAA") for months, permitting RegisterFly to get away with practices that should have ended the accreditation of any Registrar. ICANN?s lax enforcement is what created this nightmare for thousands of people around the world.
Posted by: Clarke Dummit 28 Mar 2007