Epik is no stranger to be at the epicenter of scandals, but the current situation around the company looks very, very serious. Previous scandals have centered primarily on the company's controversial reputation for hosting far-right and extremist website domains that other registrars have refused to work with. The former head of the company, Rob Monster, explained this not by his political preferences, but solely by the struggle for freedom of speech on the Internet.
But whatever Monster's real political views, he seemed to be a qualified manager. Under his leadership, the company reached the level of 808,000 domain names in August last year. In September, Rob Monster left his post, and since then this figure has been steadily declining. In December, monthly loss reached 23,000, while the total number of registrations fell to 733,000. Clients are transferring their domains to other registrar companies, complaining about various problems.
The main one is financial. Clients do not receive money for months for transactions carried out with the mediation of Epik. As a result, in early April, one of the registrants filed a lawsuit against the company: since May last year, he cannot return the $327,000 that he contributed to the Epik secure deposit service to conclude a deal that fell through. Moreover, according to the latest information, the very existence of a secure deposit service in the company is not entirely legal, since there are no necessary licenses to carry out such activities.
In this situation, Epik did not find a better way out than to blame their former boss for everything. The company's Twitter, which has been silent since September, has erupted with a series of messages, according to Domain Name Wire. In posts, it is Rob Monster who is declared the cause of financial difficulties, and the company declares that it is ready to sue him.
It is still difficult to say how this story will end, but the Domain Incite in this regard predicts unpleasant consequences for the ICANN corporation. If Epik's financial insolvency or unlicensed activities are proven, ICANN will have to terminate the accreditation agreement with the company. But part of its clientele, as mentioned above, are people of very specific political views. And, of course, they will not miss the opportunity to see everything as another global conspiracy and label ICANN as a stifler of free speech on the Internet.
