alert The fund can't be withdrawal from Epik.com via Masterbucks wallet

[enamebroker]

It happened on 23rd Aug 2022 and this matter lasted almost one month without any process. Masterbucks.com declined my fund withdrawal and disabled the button of fund withdrawal. And I contacted Epik.com and got no further action even if Rob Monster got involved in it for two weeks. All the time I was told in email by management review.

What is wrong with Epik.com? Do you think it is normal to disable fund withdrawal? How can I get back my fund from Epik.com? Thanks for your suggestion.

 

[bmugford]

Things might start to get real interesting for Epik, executives, investors, and shareholders.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1642661267587362816

The lawsuit names Epik Holdings Inc, Epik Inc, Masterbucks, and Rob Monster and Brian Royce.

Plaintiff:​	Matthew Adkisson
Defendant:​	Epik Holdings Inc, Epik Inc., Masterbucks LLC, Robert W. Monster and Brian Royce
Case Number:​	2:2023cv00495
Filed:​	March 31, 2023
Court:​	US District Court for the Western District of Washington
Nature of Suit:​	Other Fraud
Cause of Action:​	18 U.S.C. § 1962 Racketeering (RICO) Act
Jury Demanded By:​	Plaintiff

https://dockets.justia.com/docket/washington/wawdce/2:2023cv00495/320599

 

[Derek Peterson]

Things might start to get real interesting for Epik, executives, investors, and shareholders.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1642661267587362816

The lawsuit names Epik Holdings Inc, Epik Inc, Masterbucks, and Rob Monster and Brian Royce.

Plaintiff:​	Matthew Adkisson
Defendant:​	Epik Holdings Inc, Epik Inc., Masterbucks LLC, Robert W. Monster and Brian Royce
Case Number:​	2:2023cv00495
Filed:​	March 31, 2023
Court:​	US District Court for the Western District of Washington
Nature of Suit:​	Other Fraud
Cause of Action:​	18 U.S.C. § 1962 Racketeering (RICO) Act
Jury Demanded By:​	Plaintiff

https://dockets.justia.com/docket/washington/wawdce/2:2023cv00495/320599

Here's your template for cheap lawsuit and maybe even attorney @Kathleen Kalaf I assume very similar to your case. Just change plaintiff and amounts and pound away.

 

[bmugford]

The attorney listed for the plaintiff is Christian William Marcelo.

Christian Marcelo is a litigator focused on intellectual property (IP) matters involving trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, trade dress, domain name litigation, and contract disputes. Christian regularly represents plaintiffs and defendants in the technology, retail, and gaming industries in connection with claims of misappropriation or infringement. He has significant experience advising gaming companies and has secured several notable wins in this area.

If someone is looking for a lawyer in the area, that is likely aware of these Epik issues, and specializes in this type of case... there you go.

(NOT LEGAL ADVICE)

 

[bmugford]

Which Activities Qualify Under RICO Claims?​

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act continues to help attack organized crime in the US, although it was originally enacted to combat organized criminal groups like the Mafia. RICO can be applied in public and private civil suits against violators, and it contains broad provisions on violations regarding consumer protection, commercial fraud, bribery, official corruption, and security violations.

RICO claims often involve “a pattern of racketeering activity” that breaks either state or federal crimes such as murder, bribery, fraud, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, and more. The criminal RICO statute provides prison terms of 20 years and severe financial penalties.

What Is Needed to Prove a RICO Claim?​

Anyone can bring a civil suit if they have been injured by a RICO violation, and if they win, they will receive treble damages. To succeed on a RICO claim, a plaintiff must prove the following:

• Criminal Activity: You must demonstrate that the individual or organization committed one of the RICO crimes, which include a broad range of crimes, such as blackmail and wire fraud. If you bring a claim on a fraud basis, the court will apply strict scrutiny.
• Pattern of Criminal Activity: To have a successful RICO claim you must prove that there is a pattern of criminal activity – of at least two or more crimes. A pattern requires the crimes to be related in some way (or continuous), meaning it was conducted over at least a year.
• Within the Statute of Limitations: The Supreme Court held that RICO has a five-year statute of limitations. Therefore, you must file a claim at least five years before discovering the criminal activity.

What Can I Recover from a RICO Claim?​

If you win your RICO claim, you will be awarded treble damages, attorney fees, and litigation costs. “Treble damages” mean three times the amount of damages caused by the defendant.

Source -

https://www.weisberglawoffices.com/blog/2021/august/everything-you-need-to-know-about-rico-claims/

 

[bmugford]

Which Activities Qualify Under RICO Claims?​

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act continues to help attack organized crime in the US, although it was originally enacted to combat organized criminal groups like the Mafia. RICO can be applied in public and private civil suits against violators, and it contains broad provisions on violations regarding consumer protection, commercial fraud, bribery, official corruption, and security violations.

RICO claims often involve “a pattern of racketeering activity” that breaks either state or federal crimes such as murder, bribery, fraud, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, and more. The criminal RICO statute provides prison terms of 20 years and severe financial penalties.

What Is Needed to Prove a RICO Claim?​

Anyone can bring a civil suit if they have been injured by a RICO violation, and if they win, they will receive treble damages. To succeed on a RICO claim, a plaintiff must prove the following:

• Criminal Activity: You must demonstrate that the individual or organization committed one of the RICO crimes, which include a broad range of crimes, such as blackmail and wire fraud. If you bring a claim on a fraud basis, the court will apply strict scrutiny.
• Pattern of Criminal Activity: To have a successful RICO claim you must prove that there is a pattern of criminal activity – of at least two or more crimes. A pattern requires the crimes to be related in some way (or continuous), meaning it was conducted over at least a year.
• Within the Statute of Limitations: The Supreme Court held that RICO has a five-year statute of limitations. Therefore, you must file a claim at least five years before discovering the criminal activity.

What Can I Recover from a RICO Claim?​

If you win your RICO claim, you will be awarded treble damages, attorney fees, and litigation costs. “Treble damages” mean three times the amount of damages caused by the defendant.

Source -

https://www.weisberglawoffices.com/blog/2021/august/everything-you-need-to-know-about-rico-claims/

The most interesting part -

If you win your RICO claim, you will be awarded treble damages, attorney fees, and litigation costs. “Treble damages” mean three times the amount of damages caused by the defendant.

This is just the civil side. Criminal charges can be brought under RICO as well.

Brad

 

[topdom]

Ok, let's say, Epik loses, and they have to sell everything to pay their debt before going to prison, but still there is not enough money. Who will get priority here. (Masterbucks victims didn't invest in anything, didn't take any risks, and they were trusting Icann-accreditedness of Epik to do business with them. But Epik is not a business anymore (and still Icann accredited), so masterbucks victims should get money first.) And , what if a victim remains silent, do they also need to be part of the case (or create their own case) not to get scammed.
(I don't need withdrawal. They should just allow me to spend my money (about 5k) for renewals (at reasonable rates). ) How long will this thing last. If it takes long then, it is not justice. Also, if some people get money in millions because of emotional consequences of what Epik did, while directly scammed ones don't get paid this wouldn't be fair.

 

[Future Sensors]

If you win your RICO claim, you will be awarded treble damages, attorney fees, and litigation costs. “Treble damages” mean three times the amount of damages caused by the defendant.

OMG no, Brad...

That means they will eventually have to sell their flagship cybersecurity company, Cybermarks.

Quoting Rob Monster:

​

"We also have started a company that you might have come across called Cybermarks, and it is a cybersecurity boutique. You might say “wow guys, you guys are such clowns, why would you start a cybersecurity company?” Well, yeah. So the idea is… what can we do? So we hired a bunch of South Africans, like an elite team of cybersecurity people. They only were at it for a couple of months in terms of setting up their operation. They were working for a high-level firm. And they’re Kingdom guys, so they work for the Kingdom. They’re Christians. And the company that was employing them wanted to do some stuff that they didn’t feel comfortable with, and so they quit as a cohort, four of them, actually eight of them, but four elite cybersecurity guys, and we hired them. So that was about a month and a half ago. So Cybermarks.com is a division that’s being incubated by Epik. But I think we’re gonna hire quite a few heavy-duty cybersecurity guys, so if you’re on the side of good, you want to basically turn from the dark side or whatever. If you’re white hat and you want to be a force for good, Cybermarks would be a fantastic organization to be a part of I would say. We’re a pretty cool company, guys. I know that we look like clowns to some of you when you look at the cover, but check out epik.com/labs."​

​

Source: https://blog.mollywhite.net/monster-qa/​

 

[bmugford]

Ok, let's say, Epik loses, and they have to sell everything to pay their debt before going to prison, but still there is not enough money. Who will get priority here. (Masterbucks victims didn't invest in anything, didn't take any risks, and they were trusting Icann-accreditedness of Epik to do business with them. But Epik is not a business anymore (and still Icann accredited), so masterbucks victims should get money first.) And , what if a victim remains silent, do they also need to be part of the case (or create their own case) not to get scammed.
(I don't need withdrawal. They should just allow me to spend my money (about 5k) for renewals (at reasonable rates). ) How long will this thing last. If it takes long then, it is not justice. Also, if some people get money in millions because of emotional consequences of what Epik did, while directly scammed ones don't get paid this wouldn't be fair.

No one has seen the actual filing, but it appears to name the (3) companies involved and Rob Monster and Brian Royce.

Depending what happens in the case, personal assets could be on the line.

A company structure is unlikely to protect personal assets when there is fraud, misappropriation of funds, or other corporate abuses...commingling escrow funds for instance.

Or how about using an internal currency scheme to turn actual money into worthless magic beans, which you stick customers with.

The concept is called piercing the corporate veil.

Again, I have not seen the filing so I have no idea what is in it. That is just general information.

Though, a case like @Kathleen Kalaf seems pretty straightforward as to what happened.

As an unlicensed escrow company, Epik took a $100K payment for her domain, and instead of keeping $9K they kept $100K and gave her the balance of $91K in worthless Masterbucks, which she never agreed to.

This happened at the end of September 2022, and she is still unable to withdraw her funds.

This involved interstate commerce and electronic payments.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

OMG no, Brad...

That means they will eventually have to sell their flagship cybersecurity company, Cybermarks.

Quoting Rob Monster:

​

"We also have started a company that you might have come across called Cybermarks, and it is a cybersecurity boutique. You might say “wow guys, you guys are such clowns, why would you start a cybersecurity company?” Well, yeah. So the idea is… what can we do? So we hired a bunch of South Africans, like an elite team of cybersecurity people. They only were at it for a couple of months in terms of setting up their operation. They were working for a high-level firm. And they’re Kingdom guys, so they work for the Kingdom. They’re Christians. And the company that was employing them wanted to do some stuff that they didn’t feel comfortable with, and so they quit as a cohort, four of them, actually eight of them, but four elite cybersecurity guys, and we hired them. So that was about a month and a half ago. So Cybermarks.com is a division that’s being incubated by Epik. But I think we’re gonna hire quite a few heavy-duty cybersecurity guys, so if you’re on the side of good, you want to basically turn from the dark side or whatever. If you’re white hat and you want to be a force for good, Cybermarks would be a fantastic organization to be a part of I would say. We’re a pretty cool company, guys. I know that we look like clowns to some of you when you look at the cover, but check out epik.com/labs."​

​

Source: https://blog.mollywhite.net/monster-qa/​

Maybe we will get to find out who actually owns Terrahost.

Brad

 

[Embrand]

So far I could only find a summery from Law.com:

Epik Holdings, Masterbucks and other defendants were sued for fraud and breach of contract on Friday in Washington Western District Court over the purchase and sale of domain names through the virtual reality 'Epikverse' platform. According to the complaint, Epik acted as a third-party escrow agent between purchasers and sellers of domain names; the suit, filed by Perkins Coie on behalf of domain name purchaser Matthew Adkisson, accuses Epik of failing to transfer the domain names and misappropriating the funds for operational costs and other expenses. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 2:23-cv-00495, Adkisson v. Epik Holdings Inc. et al.

 

[bmugford]

So far I could only find a summery from Law.com:

Epik Holdings, Masterbucks and other defendants were sued for fraud and breach of contract on Friday in Washington Western District Court over the purchase and sale of domain names through the virtual reality 'Epikverse' platform. According to the complaint, Epik acted as a third-party escrow agent between purchasers and sellers of domain names; the suit, filed by Perkins Coie on behalf of domain name purchaser Matthew Adkisson, accuses Epik of failing to transfer the domain names and misappropriating the funds for operational costs and other expenses. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 2:23-cv-00495, Adkisson v. Epik Holdings Inc. et al.

That description sounds like two different things.

What is Epikverse? Is that even related to Epik.com?

Then you have this part, which sounds more like Epik.com -

According to the complaint, Epik acted as a third-party escrow agent between purchasers and sellers of domain names; the suit, filed by Perkins Coie on behalf of domain name purchaser Matthew Adkisson, accuses Epik of failing to transfer the domain names and misappropriating the funds for operational costs and other expenses.

Brad

 

[jmcc]

202212/December 2022 gTLD figures for Epik:
registrar - total - new - renewed - deleted grace - transfer gain - tranfer loss
Epik, Inc. | 732,914 | 11,002 | 30,997 | 25,207 | 2,225 | 22,912

There was also a deletion hit on .REALTY for 10,526 domain names. Epik had 11,998 .REALTY domain names in November and 1,140 in December. This seems to be a result of a $0.99 promotion by Epik in 2020 and a $10 renewal promotion in 2021. The Epik promotional renewal fee in 2022 was $19.99.

These are the top gTLDs for Epik from December 2021:

registrar - gTLD - total - new - renews - deleted no grace - transfer gain - transfer loss -blended renewal
| Epik, Inc. | com | 603,745 | 7,612 | 24,423 | 5,084 | 13,758 | 4,695 | 82.77 |
| Epik, Inc. | org | 30,309 | 2,085 | 1,150 | 214 | 184 | 867 | 84.31 |
| Epik, Inc. | xyz | 24,853 | 1,901 | 190 | 644 | 40 | 64 | 22.78 |
| Epik, Inc. | net | 24,781 | 235 | 1,190 | 219 | 337 | 145 | 84.46 |
| Epik, Inc. | realty | 14,354 | 0 | 9,421 | 1,891 | 0 | 0 | 83.28 |
| Epik, Inc. | info | 10,566 | 25 | 996 | 3,143 | 48 | 27 | 24.06 |
| Epik, Inc. | biz | 1,938 | 35 | 67 | 5 | 15 | 17 | 93.06 |
| Epik, Inc. | top | 1,538 | 72 | 25 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 40.98 |
| Epik, Inc. | best | 1,249 | 0 | 3 | 473 | 0 | 2 | 0.63 |
| Epik, Inc. | bible | 1,097 | 7 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 72.73 |

Compared with December 2022, there are some changes:
registrar - gTLD - total - new - renews - deleted no grace - transfer gain - transfer loss -blended renewal

| Epik, Inc. | com | 593,229 | 2,878 | 27,250 | 11,255 | 1,335 | 19,404 | 70.77 |
| Epik, Inc. | xyz | 41,893 | 1,810 | 557 | 1,281 | 237 | 2,321 | 30.30 |
| Epik, Inc. | org | 27,742 | 218 | 1,170 | 946 | 79 | 430 | 55.29 |
| Epik, Inc. | net | 25,257 | 223 | 1,338 | 367 | 186 | 415 | 78.48 |
| Epik, Inc. | info | 7,578 | 284 | 178 | 138 | 20 | 56 | 56.33 |
| Epik, Inc. | sbs | 5,794 | 2,634 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Epik, Inc. | cfd | 4,086 | 835 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Epik, Inc. | biz | 2,600 | 2 | 27 | 14 | 11 | 48 | 65.85 |
| Epik, Inc. | pro | 1,783 | 87 | 6 | 0 | 48 | 9 | 100.00 |
| Epik, Inc. | realty | 1,480 | 9 | 14 | 10,526 | 0 | 0 | 0.13 |


The .COM figures have declined but the inbound transfers (transfer gains) have declined. This could have been due to a lack of marketing promotions to get domainers to transfer their domain names to Epik. The outbound transfers (transfer losses) have also increased. The renewals are not an issue yet in the .COM but new registrations and inbound transfers have declined. The .SBS and .SFD gTLDS are not exactly bluechip gTLDs like .COM/NET/ORG and have poor renewal rates.

The blended renewal is a percentage based on renewals/(renewals+deleted no grace)*100. The renewal and deletion dates don't align in the reports due to the domain name lifecycles. Some of the effects could be down to the condition of the domain name market as it was in December 2022 but the decline in the inbound transfers and increase in outbound transfers are not. It does look like Epik is trying to keep renewals steady but the new registrations volume is down.

Regards...jmcc

 

[jmcc]

So far I could only find a summery from Law.com:

Epik Holdings, Masterbucks and other defendants were sued for fraud and breach of contract on Friday in Washington Western District Court over the purchase and sale of domain names through the virtual reality 'Epikverse' platform. According to the complaint, Epik acted as a third-party escrow agent between purchasers and sellers of domain names; the suit, filed by Perkins Coie on behalf of domain name purchaser Matthew Adkisson, accuses Epik of failing to transfer the domain names and misappropriating the funds for operational costs and other expenses. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 2:23-cv-00495, Adkisson v. Epik Holdings Inc. et al.

Perkins Coie as the lawyers for the plaintiff would indicate that this is a major case for Epik.

Regards...jmcc

 

[bmugford]

It does look like Epik is trying to keep renewals steady but the new registrations volume is down.

Regards...jmcc

Thanks for the numbers.

One interesting thing here when it comes to both renewals and registrations, is there are many reports of renewals not being applied at the registry level and registrations not even going through.

It is possible those issues could impact the numbers, especially on the registration side.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

Perkins Coie as the lawyers for the plaintiff would indicate that this is a major case for Epik.

Regards...jmcc

Perkins Coie is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1912, it is recognized as an Am Law 50 firm. It is the largest law firm headquartered in the Pacific Northwest and has 20 offices across the United States and Asia.

Headquarters: Seattle, WA
Revenue: 1.156 billion USD (2022)

Brad

 

[jmcc]

Thanks for the numbers.

One interesting thing here when it comes to both renewals and registrations, is there are many reports of renewals not being applied at the registry level and registrations not even going through.

It is possible those issues could impact the numbers, especially on the registration side.

Brad

They could, Brad,
I'm not sure that is what the numbers are showing. The month of December is traditionally a short business month due to the holidays and new registrations tend to slow down in the second half of the month. The renewals are down but not to the same level as the inbound transfers. Taking the new regisrations and the inbound transfers might be a better way to see how a registrar is doing in the market because both of them require a lot of marketing and promotion. Once a domain name is renewed once, it tends to keep on being renewed. Epik has already adjusted the renewal grace window to extend the renewal window for when a domain name has to be renewed. In effect, it gives it a bit of time to spread renewals over a longer period. It isn't the best way to do things but as long as the registrant doesn't lose the domain name, it should work.

The .COM had a very rough 2022 and first renewals (2021 new regs) were down a but compared to the 2021 first renewals. The ICANN registrar reports don't split those and just provide the number of domain names renewed for each renewal period (1 year, 2 year etc).

Offering discounted new registrations or transfers would be a hit on Epik's finances unless the registry is running a promotion. Epik is probably finding it difficult to compete with the larger registrars who are more diversified (hosting etc).

Regards...jmcc

 

[jmcc]

Looking at the background of the domain name market for 2020, 2021, 2022 there were a lot of companies betting that the switch to online as a result of Covid was going to continue indefinitely. By 2022, it was clear that the expectations were not being met and some of the companies that had bet on the switch (Shopify etc) had to lay off people and downsize. The gTLDs and ccTLDs also took a big hit over 2022 with deletions rising. Epik may have got investment but 2022 and 2023 are very different markets to when Epik was trying to get investors. They are a lot tougher.

The large registries (other than some of the new gTLD registries that use a heavy discounting model) seem to be more careful about running discounting promotions.

The gTLD market, just looking at registrar numbers, looks to be relatively unconcentrated and a lot of registrars are operating in the market for most gTLDs. The reality is that registrar portfolio operators have multiple registrar accreditations (Goaddy and Newfold Digital for example). There are only about 800 retail facing gTLD registrars and the rest of the 2,500 or so are drop catcher registrars. Some of the large players in the market got big by buying market share (buying other registrars). That's what Epik should have been doing.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Future Sensors]

What is Epikverse? Is that even related to Epik.com?

References are mostly related to another company.

However, here is one mention by Epik.com on Twitter, using #Epikverse as a tag.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1460757339393429508

 

[Future Sensors]

There was also a deletion hit on .REALTY for 10,526 domain names. Epik had 11,998 .REALTY domain names in November and 1,140 in December.

Interesting, thanx.

 

[GNP]

What is Epikverse? Is that even related to Epik.com?

It MIGHT just be an umbrella term to denote the various "Epik" companies.

 

[bmugford]

References are mostly related to another company.

However, here is one mention by Epik.com on Twitter, using #Epikverse as a tag.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1460757339393429508

There was also a deletion hit on .REALTY for 10,526 domain names. Epik had 11,998 .REALTY domain names in November and 1,140 in December.

Look at Rob's tweet about .realty.

I think we know how that turned out.

Brad

 

[Future Sensors]

Look at Rob's tweet about .realty.

I think we know how that turned out.

We've found the .link!

 

[Future Sensors]

Look at Rob's tweet about .realty.

Says Monster:

"At this point, I am sufficiently confident about .REALTY as the emerging logical .COM alternative for realty professionals that Epik decided to back up the truck this week and acquire a portfolio of 11,427 .REALTY domains."

 

[bmugford]

Says Monster:

"At this point, I am sufficiently confident about .REALTY as the emerging logical .COM alternative for realty professionals that Epik decided to back up the truck this week and acquire a portfolio of 11,427 .REALTY domains."

That is from November 2021.

I guess we know where those 10,526 .realty deletes came from now.

Let's not forgot he was hyping up hyphenated domains also -
https://www.namepros.com/threads/hyphenated-com-domains-are-back-in-fashion.1154810/

Then of course we have the 11,000 .city domain debacle with DigitalTown, before they went bankrupt -
https://onlinedomain.com/2016/06/25...-domain-network-buys-11000-city-domain-names/

Rob said -

Overall, I think we have the right solution for maximizing shareholder value. We own 23,000 .CITY domains. We also picked up about 5,000 very nice .LONDON domains for very reasonable prices, and are working with the city registries through major strategic partnerships, e.g. .ISTANBUL was earlier this week.

Some real winners there.

Brad

 

[Embrand]

That description sounds like two different things.

What is Epikverse? Is that even related to Epik.com?

Then you have this part, which sounds more like Epik.com -

According to the complaint, Epik acted as a third-party escrow agent between purchasers and sellers of domain names; the suit, filed by Perkins Coie on behalf of domain name purchaser Matthew Adkisson, accuses Epik of failing to transfer the domain names and misappropriating the funds for operational costs and other expenses.

Brad

Yes, it will be interesting to be able to read the entire case, because this seems a bit confusing.

There are a few people called Matthew Adkisson, but if it is this guy, I think the suit might involve some very premium names that he purchased but didn't receive:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattadkisson/

He was a co-founder of Safer.com, so it seems like he knows the value of good domains.