Mar 9, 2007 : Ex Registerfly CEO Regains Control

📅 March 9, 2007 - The strange saga of embattled domain registrar Registerfly (registerfly.com) took another surprising turn this week when a US District Court Judge ruled on Thursday to hand control of the company back to ousted CEO Kevin Medina.


Medina had been CEO of Registerfly parent company Unifiednames before being fired by other board members February 12 among long term allegations of poor service, and more recent claims of claims of more serious breaches in service.

Over the last few weeks, Registerfly's service had been interrupted repeatedly, and domain names registered by customers were reportedly lost, as the companies principles struggled for control of the business. John Naruszewicz, who co-founded the company and succeeded Medina as CEO, accused medina of stealing money from the company. Medina denied the charges and accused Naruszewicz of using fraud to assume control of the company.

The judge's ruling declared stock certificates held by Naruszewicz to be null and void, and ruled that Medina owned the company.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has reportedly taken steps to stop domain names registered by Registerfly customers from being lost. The group has asked several of the registrars controlling the majority of domain names to help ensure that the expiring domains remain with their registered owners.

Medina has less than a week to right the ship, as ICANN filed notice with Registerfly February 21 that the company had until March 14 to fix its operations or lose its accreditation as a registrar.

The company's specific breaches of contract, according to ICANN, include failing to provide ICANN with records of who owns accounts, failing to provide proof that it is paying the domain name registry operators for its customers' names and replacing customers' names with Medina's name.

Naruszewicz reportedly does not plan to appeal the decision. He says he expects the company to implode within a few days.