Cohen Stays in Jail, Judge Says

SAN JOSE, Calif. – In the continuing saga between Sex.com owner Gary Kremen and the man who once successfully hijacked his domain name, Stephen Cohen found no relief from a judge this afternoon in U.S. District Court and will likely stay in jail for several more weeks.

In a decision that Kremen called a victory, Judge James Ware found no convincing reason to let Cohen out of jail, despite urgings from his lawyer that Cohen is in poor health after suffering several heart attacks in past years.

The judge even declined an offer from Cohen’s lawyer to let him stay at his home.

Cohen, a fugitive in Mexico since 2001 after a judge ordered that he pay Kremen $65 million for usurping the Sex.com domain, was arrested on Oct. 27 by Mexican Federal Police and was then turned over to agents of the U.S. Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Marshals Service.

Kremen told XBiz he was surprised by Ware’s decision, based on the fact that this is by far one of the judge’s oldest cases.

“He easily could have let him out,” Kremen said. “But he chose not to, and that’s a good thing for us.”

Kremen added that despite his misgivings towards Cohen after creating a costly cat-and-mouse game for the past five years, Cohen looked “sharp” in his county jumpsuit.

Whether Cohen still has sufficient assets to pay Kremen remains unknown. In October, Kremen was awarded a permanent injunction against Cohen and was able to seize all of his assets in the United States, including mail, cars, credit cards, property, eight bank accounts, email, a leased building on the U.S./Mexico border and a list of around 70 adult and non-adult domain names that Kremen said he intends to sell.

Another hearing is set for Nov. 21 to determine how the case will proceed.

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