Where was Batman when we needed him most? By the recent spree of courtroom convictons, employee malfeasance, and email evil-doers and escapees, Emerald City’s web world began to resemble something closer to Gotham City last week.
First, a former Microsoft manager who admitted embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the company was sentenced in U.S. District Court to more time than it will likely take Microsoft to acquire the search assets of Yahoo. The sentence of 22 months followed a plea agreement in which the convicted admitted, among other things, to artificially inflating expense reports seeking reimbursement for Internet domain names bought on the company’s behalf using a personal credit card. The tangled Web was woven when the employee was encouraged to buy the domains on her own corporate credit card because of the company’s desire to conceal its identity from domain-name sellers.
On Tuesday, a Seattle man known as the “Spam King” (no, not the Joker or the Pengiun) was also sentenced to prison, while federal officials said someone else with the same criminal nickname escaped from a prison camp in Colorado.
The notoroious Robert Alan Soloway, who pleaded guilty in March to mail fraud, e-mail fraud and tax evasion, was sentenced to three years and 11 months in federal prison. Meanwhile, a U.S. attorney’s office announced Tuesday that 35-year-old Edward “Eddie” Davidson walked out of a minimum-security prison camp in Florence, Colo., on Sunday.
U.S. marshals, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service are looking for Davidson, who was last seen about 90 miles north of the camp in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. Was he checking his Hot Mail?
To complete the hat, or bat, trick, the Puget Sound Business Journal broke the story of domain marketer Marchex going after two of its former employees for allegedly setting up decetive, competing Websites. The story cited that while on the payroll, the two alleged culprits, “owned and operated websites such as www.500cities.com ad www.collegestates.com that were identical in look and feel to sites owned and operated by Marchex.” It looks as if this transgresstion will be resolved out of court leaving the jokers to repay Marchex legal costs and have to live with the alter ego of being defiantly “two-faced.” Movie rights available here. [24×7]
Fisher Opens Air Space for SecondSpace
Fisher Communications is forming a major content partnership with Seattle based SecondSpace, Inc. (www.secondspace.com), the leading online marketplace for second homes and recreational retreats, to bring the world’s largest selection of vacation homes and land for sale to Fisher’s television, radio and Web audiences in 13 markets in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Texas.
This partnership with SecondSpace allows Fisher to deliver contextually-relevant content—allowing consumers to browse waterfront homes from the San Juan Islands to San Diego, recreational properties in Idaho, Montana or international properties from 99 countries around the world— allowing Fisher’s customers to search beyond the bounds of their local communities to discover their perfect recreational retreat or dream second home. [24×7]
