Oversee Files Suit Against Nelson Brady for $33 Million in Damages
SnapNames, and its parent company, Oversee.net, announced today that they have filed suit against Nelson Brady in federal court in Oregon (Portland district).
Brady, a former employee of SnapNames improperly bid in certain SnapNames auctions using the bidder alias “Hank Alvarez” or “halvarez”. The company also claims that Brady also embezzled funds from Oversee by refunding himself a share of the purchase price for domain names he won through the SnapNames system.
Oversee is seeking to recover $33 million of dollars from Brady, including punitive damages. The company claims to have been making an effort to settle privately with Brady to recover losses, including the “rebates” sent to SnapNames customers effected by the activity and the funds he embezzled.
Oversee came under attack for the debacle and had faced several class action lawsuits themselves. All parties involved by the fraudulent behavior had been offered a “rebate” check by the company.
For several months, the company has in good faith attempted to settle privately with Brady to recover its losses, including the rebate fund established by Oversee to address Brady’s activities and the funds he embezzled from Oversee. Those settlement efforts have been unsuccessful. According to the company officials “No amount of money, however, could compensate the damage Brady has caused to SnapNames’ and Oversee’s reputation in the marketplace.”
Company officials have sent DNN the following details of the events :
- In October 2009, Oversee discovered an employee, Nelson Brady, using an account under the false name “Hank Alvarez,” engaged in improper bidding activities in domain name auctions on the SnapNames platform.
- Oversee and SnapNames disclosed the situation to its customers and employees in November 2009. Oversee made available to affected customers a cash rebate in the amount of overpayment, plus 5.22% interest (the highest applicable federal rate during the affected time period), of any amounts paid exceeding what the auction price would have been without employee bidding.
- Since that time, more than 60% of the aggregate rebate amount has been claimed.
Brady’s conduct affected:
5% of auctions since 2005
75% of total impacted auctions were between 2005 and 2007
Less than 1% of SnapNames auctions during this period were won by the employee
The remaining 4% were won by SnapNames clients.
Brady’s bidding affected approximately 1% of SnapNames’ auction revenue during the full period.
(c) 2010 DomainNameNews.com
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