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Epstein low-balled registrants to get his exact-match domain
Dead rapist Jeffrey Epstein tried to secure the .com and .net versions of his name by low-balling the existing registrants over relatively trivial amounts, the latest batch of “Epstein files” published at the weekend.
Epstein had his accountants make an “exploratory offer” of $1,000 for jeffreyepstein.com in July 2013, according to emails between Epstein, his accountant and an SEO specialist.
At the same time, the accountants said they planned to make a $500 offer to the registrant of jeffreyepstein.net, who had offered to transfer the domain for just $850.
I guess you don’t get to be an (alleged) billionaire without screwing over a few little guys.
The newly published files do not show whether Epstein ever successfully secured the .com version, but it seems he did acquire the .net, which was to be used as part of a shady-sounding SEO campaign aimed at restoring his reputation online.
An Archive.org cache shows that the .net domain was listed at HugeDomains for $895 as late as 2013. The released emails show a SEO specialist acquired it on Epstein’s behalf before February 2014.
Epstein was apparently angry that the first 75 pages of Google SERPs for his name contained nothing negative information, including mugshots taken following his arrest on child sex offences.
A reputation management specialist offered a suite of services aimed at reducing his exposure to this unwelcome attention through a variety of standard SEO techniques and dodgy-sounding tactics such as exploiting EU privacy law, creating fictional Jeffrey Epstein characters who would upload food and sports content, and “hacking”.
The .com domain is currently offered at GoDaddy for just shy of $10,000, while the .net redirects to epsteinwiki.com, a wiki devoted to exposing Epstein’s crimes.
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