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Sex.com auction delayed

Lawyers step in to block bargain sale

The auction of the controversial domain name sex.com has been delayed, after some of its owner's creditors stepped in with a bankruptcy claim.

The foreclosure sale had been due to go ahead in New York today, with a simultaneous online auction at ProxiBid.com, but the auction is now listed as “postponed”.

The law firm of Meister Seelig & Fein said in a press release that it has filed an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition against sex.com's indebted current owner, Escom.

“Petitioners took this action to protect their interests and to maximize value for all other creditors and equity holders,” the firm said. The sale “would have diminished the value of Escom's assets”.

Domain investor Michael Mann, who said he is a creditor, said in an email: “[I]t has been delayed because the auction and sale process was flawed and illegal and a bankruptcy judge can protect it.”

It seems Escom's creditors were worried that a foreclosure auction was not the best place to sell off one of the internet's most valuable pieces of real estate.

Escom acquired the domain for a rumoured $14m in 2006. Sex.com has a storied past, and was the subject of a 2007 book by our own Kieren McCarthy. ®

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