domainwatch.org

Web names boss on bankruptcy list (requires subscription)
http://www.theage.com.au/news/fulldisclosure/web-names-boss-on-bankruptcy-list/2005/10/23/1130006002477.html

” …

Web names boss on bankruptcy list
By Helen Westerman and Rebecca Urban
FULL DISCLOSURE
October 24, 2005

A SHONKY businessman who misled tens of thousands of businesses into buying domain names that they did not need has been declared bankrupt.

Chesley Rafferty, a former director of the rather official sounding Domain Names Australia, filed for bankruptcy this month, after two creditors petitioned for his bankruptcy.

The Federal Court last year found that Rafferty, 26, was guilty of misleading and deceptive conduct under the Trades Practices Act.

The company would send letters to businesses that were dressed up to look like invoices, asking them to register their domain name for $237 by a due date. And because the fee was a relatively small sum for many organisations, it was often processed with little scrutiny.

It is believed that he reaped millions.

Rafferty later appealed against the court’s decision but lost, and has been issued with an injunction forbidding him from committing further breaches.

He was also ordered to pay costs, which has obviously proved a problem given the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the self-regulating domain industry body, both of which took court action, have served bankruptcy notices on Rafferty to recoup their costs.

… “