Man says company owes him over $300,000.
A person has sued (pdf) domain name registrar Epik, its Masterbucks entity, former CEO Rob Monster, and current CEO Brian Royce after the corporate didn’t return his funds in an escrow transaction.
Matthew Adkisson’s allegations will surprise nobody following Epik’s plight over the past six months.
Adkisson alleges that he agreed to purchase nourish .com in a transaction facilitated by Epik. He paid $327,000 to Epik, covering $300,000 as a consequence of the domain seller and a $27,000 commission. The vendor didn’t deliver the domain. Adkisson waited six months for Epik to get the domain for him. When that failed, he asked for his a refund.
But at that time, Epik was in financial distress. And in contrast to how an escrow service is required to operate, Epik had comingled his funds with operations and used it to cover expenses.
In response to the suit:
In a subsequent phone call, Epik, through its counsel, admitted that it owed Adkisson the $327,000 it had promised to carry in escrow, and that sometime after Adkisson wired the funds to Epik, it was misappropriated, embezzled or each. In any case, Epik conceded that the Escrow Funds were now not available. Epik further claimed that the corporate was “money strapped” and that Adkisson’s Escrow Funds were used to pay other debts.
In January, Epik’s counsel told Adkisson that it will pay $20,000 by January 12 and the remaining funds by the top of January. It never made the second payment.
When Adkisson contacted Monster on January 31, Monster wrote to Adkisson:
within the event that the Company doesn’t, or is not going to settle the balance due of $307,000, I’m committed to covering this personally, and doing so asap
That is the primary lawsuit I’m aware of that has been filed against Epik as a consequence of nonpayment of funds.
Perkins Coie LLP is representing Adkisson.
