The far-right’s go-to domain name registrar, Epik, recently announced that it has been sold.
The company is framing the sale as the answer to its monetary and reputational woes, as well as the concerns of disgruntled customers who claim Epik is keeping enormous sums of their cash and failing to register, renew, and transfer their domains.
Epik faced a litany of problems in the last two years. In September 2021 it was so thoroughly hacked that an expert described it as “the worst I’ve seen in 20 years.”
The hack led to revelations about the neo-Nazis, Capitol rioters, and Republican Party of Texas—not to be confused with one another—that registered their domains with the company. Then last September, founder Rob Monster abruptly stepped down as chief executive officer. Complaints subsequently began escalating from customers claiming Epik converted the proceeds of their domain sales and transfers into Masterbucks, the company’s payment platform, without permission and that they were unable to withdraw those funds.
Rather than soothe concerns, the sale is causing panic as rumors fly that Epik is using the sale to divest itself of debt-ridden assets, keep clients’ money, and continue operating under a new entity.
Epik’s effort to actively distance itself from Masterbucks before and after the sale by claiming that they are separate entities is fueling such fears.
Simultaneously, new documents from a court case show that Monster has grown paranoid about being left with the company’s debt in the sale and potentially being murdered.
Epik was also recently warned by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that it was in breach of its contract. ICANN is the international consortium that accredits domain registrars. Without ICANN, Epik’s clients could lose the domains they have registered with the company.
Epik’s disgruntled customers and observers both harbor suspicions that the sale is merely a vehicle for avoiding paying its significant debts. They’ve accused Epik of intentionally transferring funds it owes clients into Masterbucks, then severing that from the sale, leaving clients with no way to collect their money. Some suspect that Monster is on both sides of the transaction, which the parties deny.
Epik has said that proceeds from the sale are intended to make its debtors whole. Some have reportedly been paid. Others are still waiting for tens of thousands of dollars and growing increasingly fearful that they’ll never get it. Court documents indicate that clients may have cause for concern. Those documents, which have not been previously reported, include an asset purchase agreement which shows that some of the assets Epik’s clients say are wrongfully holding their cash are specifically excluded from the sale, namely Epik’s Masterbucks.
According to those documents, an attorney who represented Epik client Matthew Adkisson in his case against the company sounded the alarm about the sale being used to avoid paying debts.
“Our client is very concerned, and with good reason, that this so-called asset sale will serve only to transfer the valuable assets of the company to a third party, leaving it unable to re-pay consumers like Mr. Adkisson, causing irreparable harm,” attorney David Perez wrote Monster in an email on May 13.
“We are also concerned that, by definition, what the company is now selling includes assets that necessarily belong to consumers like Mr. Adkisson.”
This email, the asset purchase agreement, and other correspondence between the parties and their lawyers are contained in a declaration Perez filed in support of Adkisson’s motion for a temporary restraining order to halt the sale.
Perez didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Adkisson sued Epik in March, alleging that it embezzled over $300,000 from him and improperly commingled funds.
He filed the restraining order to stall the sale to ensure he got paid before it concluded. According to Perez’s declaration, in January, Epik’s lawyer admitted that the company misappropriated Adkisson’s money.
“Epik’s counsel admitted that Epik owed Adkisson the $327,000 it had promised to hold in escrow, and that sometime after Adkisson wired the funds to Epik, it was misappropriated, embezzled or both,” it states. “Epik’s counsel further claimed that the company was ‘cash strapped’ and that Mr. Adkisson’s escrow funds were misappropriated and used to pay other debts without his authorization.”
The parties agreed to settle the case on June 2.
For months, clients have complained that Epik wasn’t registering, renewing, or transferring domains they paid for. In November, Monster’s replacement, Brian Royce, told the Daily Dot he’d taken the reins of a clusterfuck.
Since Royce took over, Epik customers have grown increasingly convinced that their money disappeared into a black hole. Many claim Epik ceased responding to all communications.
“Does anyone work here anymore?? I need help,” a person recently wrote on Epik’s Facebook page. Another commenter opined that Epik must’ve gone out of business.
The sale appeared to come in the nick of time. Epik’s clients were growing increasingly irate, threatening lawsuits, and talking about going to the authorities, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Following the sale, the new company, also called Epik, promised that it would get the registrar working to fix the problems with domains and start paying its debts to clients and ICANN. Given the sale’s opacity, much remains unknown about Epik’s debts, including how much debt it transferred to entities that were excluded from the sale.
Igor Gabrielan says Epik owes him $55,000. Via email and correspondence on NamePros, an online community for domain investors, Gabrielan provided the Daily Dot with emails, direct messages, and screenshots from his profiles on Epik and Masterbucks showing that he’s been trying to get his money since September.
Gabrielan told the Daily Dot that he lives near Kharkiv, Ukraine. Due to wartime chaos and restrictions on the banking system, he withdrew some funds, but left the remaining $55,000 in his account at Epik.
“When our troops repulsed the Russian attacks and the situation partially stabilized, I wanted to withdraw money to a Ukrainian bank,” Gabrielan said. “At first, Epik’s website did not even allow for a withdrawal request. Finally, on October 14, 2022, I made withdrawal requests, but Epik has not paid.”
