The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington has issued a verdict in the case of Rob Monster, former CEO of the registrar company Epik. During his leadership, Monster gained notoriety for his unconventional stance on free speech: under his direction, Epik provided domain services to websites that other registrars had rejected, often those promoting openly racist or extremist content.
The company also introduced Masterbucks, a service that claimed to offer secure escrow for domain transactions. However, many of those assurances went unmet. The platform eventually shut down, Monster departed from the company, and he now faces multiple lawsuits.
According to Domain Name Wire, Rob Monster faces a steep penalty in his latest settlement. The court has ordered him to pay domain investor Luigi Marruso $1.37 million along with 5.19 Bitcoin, an amount totaling approximately $1.94 million at current exchange rates. Marruso chose not to pursue any further claims, seeking only to recover the funds he lost through transfers to Masterbucks.
Whether Monster can fulfill this payment remains uncertain. Earlier this year, some of his assets – including two vehicles – were forcibly auctioned to satisfy debts stemming from lawsuits brought by other domain investors.
