Recent Posts
- auDA chair racks off after just 18 months
- ICANN launches cash-for-kids scheme
- After $30 million deal, is a .voice gTLD now inevitable?
- Watch John Oliver take down voice.com’s buyer
- Record-breaking $30 million domain sale was financed by cryptocurrency
- .gay not coming out this year after all
- New gTLD registry is latest billion-dollar unicorn
- PwC wants to be your Whois gatekeeper
- .wang cut off with Chinese red tape
- This latest Chinese bubble could deflate ccTLD growth
- Dodgy registrars could be banned from .org promotions
- India’s largest registrar goes insolvent, gets suspended
- ZADNA CEO suspended for “hybrid misconduct”
- Brand kills off gTLD that is actually being USED
- Time for some more ICANN salary porn
- Smaller registrars say .uk release is biased towards the Big Boys
- New gTLDs slip again in Q1
- Second-level .au domains ARE coming soon
- .icu gets China nod as it tops 900,000 regs
- These 27 companies have ditched the .com for their dot-brand
- These are the 10 most-used dot-brands
- GRS has lost three million domains since Famous Four died
- Four presidents slam .amazon decision
- MMX makes $100,000 .luxe premium sale
- Major registries posting “fabricated” Whois data
- Hold your horses! The last wave of comments on .amazon hasn’t started yet
- .com zone tops 140 million
- .gay picks the absolutely perfect launch date
- Dot-brand .bond has been acquired and will relaunch as a generic this July
- CentralNic grabs more of the reseller market with $16.5 million acquisition
- EURid inks trademark protection deal for non-trademark owners
- CENTR: domain growth now slowest EVER
- Court rules domain name list should stay secret
- ICANN redacts the secrets of Verisign’s .web deal
- Got a spare three grand? For a limited period, you can buy a .th domain name
- Amazon wins! ICANN on verge of approving .amazon despite government outrage
- WordPress-linked .blog dumps Nominet for CentralNic
- Brand-blocking service plotted for porn gTLDs
- Five more gTLD deadbeats fingered by ICANN
- Defunct Famous Four ordered to hand $1.5 million back to investors
- Future of .io domains has become party-political issue in the UK
- ICANN to host first-ever high-stakes dot-brand auction
- Dead dot-brands hit 50
- Turkish government takes over ccTLD
- Pricey .inc does quite well in sunrise
- ICANN plans return to Cancun in 2021
- These five TLDs contain 80% of all child abuse images
- PIR says it has no plans to raise .org prices
- .CLUB to let brands block “trillions” of domains for $2,000
- Another five Amazon TLDs move to Nominet
YouPorn owner arrested in tax evasion probe
YouPorn owner and regular ICM Registry antagonist Fabian Thylmann has reportedly been arrested in Belgium in connection with a German tax evasion investigation.
He was taken into custody at Brussels airport today under a warrant from the Cologne District Court, according to German daily Die Welt.
Thylmann is the owner — some say nominally so — of Manwin Licensing, the online porn empire behind brands such as YouPorn, Brazzers and, under license, Playboy.
Manwin sued ICANN and ICM late last year over the .xxx gTLD, saying it violates US antitrust laws, charges which are denied.
The company is also engaged in an ICANN Independent Review Panel procedure over the same issues.
ICM says that the lawsuit, and a related boycott, are merely attempts to disrupt its business. Thylmann, the company claims, offered to invest in ICM but was rebuffed.
According to Die Welt, Manwin’s German headquarters was raided last Tuesday as part of an ongoing tax evasion probe, which was spurred in part by the newspaper’s own investigation into the company.
Recent Comments
I always wonder if these sales are real or if it is only the same owner moving money from one company to another, from o... read more
A list of hundreds of EOS projects can be found at www.eosindex.io under projects... read more
Say what?... read more
Another domain bought with crypto-currency.... read more
I suspect they have misjudged this, it is not going to get "community support" when they just want to make money from it... read more
Every second startup claims to be a “unicorn” these days, half of it is BS to look good in press releases.... read more
Glad you mentioned "initial use" - the Amazons are part of the Greek folklore, so it's the love of the conquistadors for... read more
Mira I'm not aware of any European domain name registry that would grant blanket access to anyone with the possible ex... read more
I expect that the no human eyes part wont be accepted in court if you provide data to parties who aren't pre-screened. ... read more
Is PwC going to provide registrars AND registries with full indemnity?... read more