# Brent Oxley, Hostgator Owner in some trouble!



## MapleDots__ (Mar 4, 2021)

[h]Brent Oxley Loses Access to Millions of Dollars Worth of His Domains[/h]




> Brent Oxley, the founder of HostGator, has been accruing a portfolio of ultra-premium domain names since he sold his hosting company for close to $300 million in 2013.
> 
> With purchases such as Give.com for $500,000, Broker.com for $375,000, and Texas.com for $1,007,500, Oxley has spent millions of dollars over the past few years accumulating this collection. According to his website, the portfolio is worth more than $25 million.
> 
> ...




Read the full story here:
https://www.jamesnames.com/2021/03/brent-oxley/


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## rlm__ (Mar 4, 2021)

That's some scary news, can't wait to see the full details on that one.

Sounds like you wouldn't want to have your domains at GoDaddy.  Of course I don't, nor would I ever, but maybe some of you who do use them should reconsider.


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## GeorgeK__ (Mar 4, 2021)

He no longer owns HostGator. He sold it to Endurance many years ago:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HostGator


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## jaydub__ (Mar 4, 2021)

So happy I no longer deal with them *THUMBSUP*
Real shock to me was Francois’s comment in the article that GD never let Brent know. He only found out when he tried to send Francois some names  ...what a shocker that would be.


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## DomainRecap (Mar 4, 2021)

Very pertinent comment:

_Why does GD bend over? Because they have legal presence in India? Lesson to use but US-only registrars._


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## MapleDots__ (Mar 4, 2021)

DomainRecap said:
			
		

> _Why does GD bend over? Because they have legal presence in India? Lesson to use but US-only registrars._



That is a very good point that I had not thought of before. Staying with a Canadian registrar would greatly reduce the chances of that.

Thank you for that comment, it is definitely food for thought.


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## Esdiel (Mar 5, 2021)

Brent Oxley chimed in the blog post's comment section today, with lots of interesting details:



> Puneet spent a little over $12 in India, and without proof, a contract, or even a court order, was able to abuse Godaddy’s policy and lock over $10mm worth of my domains!
> 
> These names have been locked for over a year now, and I’ve spent $10,000’s in legal bills trying to get a court order to get them unlocked as Godaddy requires. (covid hasn’t made it easy with the courts) The legal fees pale in comparison to the millions in deals I’ve had to turn down. The lock prevents you from changing a domain’s DNS or transferring it, which means you can’t sell it.
> 
> ...


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## MapleDots__ (Mar 5, 2021)

This is going to hurt godaddy big time, my discount club is about to expire there.

God if only WHC had a decent control panel!!


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## Eby__ (Mar 5, 2021)

MapleDots said:
			
		

> This is going to hurt godaddy big time.



I would imagine so. For the millions they spend in customer acquisition, they let go of thousands by a poor decision.


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## jaydub__ (Mar 6, 2021)

Anyone could set up this little extortion scheme and GD goes along with it...it is nuts and I can’t imagine the stress Brent is trying to cope with.


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## MapleDots__ (Mar 6, 2021)

Here is the law suit
https://www.jamesnames.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Agarwal-vs-GoDaddy-Oxley.pdf


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## DomainRecap (Mar 6, 2021)

Eby said:
			
		

> I would imagine so. For the millions they spend in customer acquisition, they let go of thousands by a poor decision.



Have you seen the size of the Indian market and their mushrooming population? Scary in terms of carbon footprint and human race viability, but corporations don't care about that "are we going to be around in 25 years" crap and only look at the sheer numbers and potential profit. 

GD obviously had to agree to all kinds of crazy requirements to get into India, so as long as this situation doesn't go viral in the larger world, I'm sure they think screwing a few Americans is worth the payoff. Otherwise, they wouldn't have locked these domains.


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## MapleDots__ (Mar 7, 2021)

Namecheap stood up and refused to lock the domains
https://www.thedomains.com/2021/03/06/brent-oxley-godaddy/




> I understand that after Oxley moved his domains to Namecheap, Agarwal contacted Namecheap asking for Oxley’s names to be locked, a request that Namecheap declined. I contacted Namecheap for comment. I was told:
> 
> “Namecheap always puts our customers first, protecting their right, freedoms and valuable digital assets such as domain names. We have a proven track record of doing the right thing by our customers that includes fighting for their rights in court when deemed necessary. We do not lock or disable customer domains on a whim without the correct legal requirement.”


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## Esdiel (Mar 7, 2021)

Paul Nicks, the GM and VP of GD's Aftermarket, has made a statement via Twitter. 

Click on the tweet to see the entire thread and additional comments (which is happening live):


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1368646792909365252


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## Esdiel (Mar 7, 2021)

Here's another tweet, by Shane Cultra, where GD is taking some heat and in which Paul Nick's is also responding to:


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1368355364102692865


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## DomainRecap (Mar 7, 2021)

Here's another classic one:

[twitter=https://twitter.com/DomainFluent/status/1368671546353541124][/twitter]

OH SNAP!


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## MapleDots__ (Mar 8, 2021)

It would be interesting to get a Canadian Registrars perspective on this

[notify]efalcon[/notify] from whc - can you specify your companies position?

[notify]CanSpace[/notify] - can you specify your companies position?


The topic has exploded in the internet space and godaddy is losing tens of thousands of domains.

*Are we any safer moving to a Canadian entity?*


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## MapleDots__ (Mar 8, 2021)

I am trying to get a response from namespro.com (not namepros.com) as well to see what their response is.

[notify]Nafti[/notify] I think you have contacts there, could you send them a link to here?


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## CanSpace__ (Mar 8, 2021)

There is absolutely no circumstance in which we would deny clients access to their domains without a direct order from a Canadian court.


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## DomainRecap (Mar 8, 2021)

GoDaddy is to India as the NBA is to China.

That's why Paul at GD doesn't actually say anything concrete on Twitter and he's just gabbering to quiet the masses because of the enormous amount of Indian money at stake.

After all, it's not like GD has been holding these domains hostage for over a year. It hits online and suddenly GD is "very concerned" about it and is looking for "solutions".


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## Nafti (Mar 8, 2021)

MapleDots said:
			
		

> I am trying to get a response from namespro.com (not namepros.com) as well to see what their response is.
> 
> [notify]Nafti[/notify] I think you have contacts there, could you send them a link to here?



I will email them to see if they want to join here and chime in.


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## Esdiel (Mar 8, 2021)

DomainRecap said:
			
		

> GoDaddy is to India as the NBA is to China.
> 
> That's why Paul at GD doesn't actually say anything concrete on Twitter and he's just gabbering to quiet the masses because of the enormous amount of Indian money at stake.
> 
> After all, it's not like GD has been holding these domains hostage for over a year. It hits online and suddenly GD is "very concerned" about it and is looking for "solutions".



Good points here. 

And isn't Oxley a competitor of GD? I don't think I've seen anyone bring this up aspect yet, perhaps because it's a serious accusation to make, but doesn't this kind of add another level of shadyness to this whole ordeal?


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## efalcon__ (Mar 9, 2021)

MapleDots said:
			
		

> It would be interesting to get a Canadian Registrars perspective on this



I would always advocate using a Canadian registrar’s services when domaining in Canada or registering .CA domains, over using similar services from an international provider. 

One reason for this is jurisdiction. Having your provider operate within the same legal framework as your own business makes sense and will generally ensure that issues similar to the ones described in this post are avoided or at least easier to respond to, should they occur. 

From what I know (and this is without having consulted our legal team, and without myself being a lawyer), WHC will respond to court orders that are valid in Canada, or requests from registries that follow their Domain Resolution Process (UDRP for ICANN or CDRP for CIRA; which I invite any serious domainer to familiarize themselves with). 

We have and will continue to turn down requests that do not follow due process or have not been approved by a Canadian court (or the bodies designated for this by each registry), and conversely we’ll also act diligently to collaborate with law enforcement when their requests are backed by a valid court order.


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## DomainRecap (Mar 9, 2021)

Has anyone asked GoDaddy exactly what their agreement with India entails, as that country is well-known for the crazy demands on registrars - they require registrars selling in India to not allow certain words and phrases in any domain registrations as a condition of entry, so it would be no surprise to find out that a "lock domains at the first notification of a Indian court action" would be in the GoDaddy contract.

Domain investors must absolutely reject globalism and embrace nationalism, otherwise Brent's scenario will become all-too common.


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## Esdiel (Mar 9, 2021)

More from Oxley, posted on NPs ~10 mins ago:



> Last night I finished going through 2,000+ emails from Puneet, most of which is spam and took 50+ screenshots that I zipped up for you all and attached to this post.
> 
> The majority of Puneet's threats, mutilated body images, and prostitution discussions took place on Facebook messenger. If needed, I'll waste another day of my life organizing that for an upload.
> 
> ...




*Oxley also attached a zip file with 49 screesnshots as proof, which can be found/downloaded here: *https://www.namepros.com/threads/br...h-of-his-domains.1230431/page-33#post-8193385


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## Spex (Mar 9, 2021)

Brent just dropped some bombs in the NP thread. 3 zip files worth of proof (Don't know what's in them, I didn't open them) 

Brent also accused Puneet (the guy from India) of running up charges on his credit card. Brent renewed some of Puneet's domains in exchange of payment and apparently Puneet was able to see Brent credit card info at GoDaddy

Wild stuff complete with hookers, booze and drugs!


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## Esdiel (Mar 9, 2021)

ps: He included two other zip files afterwards, with another 16 sceenshots/files, in a follow-up post.

I've considered posting all the screenshots here but it would be pretty lengthy. If you guys want me to post them anyway, just let me know.


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## DomainRecap (Mar 9, 2021)

Esdiel said:
			
		

> More from Oxley, posted on NPs ~10 mins ago:
> 
> It's unfortunate to say this, but from experience, I've found the people that you help most in life are the ones most likely to steal and stab you in the back. I've learned this the hard way over the years from this Puneet experience, my ex stealing, and even close former childhood friends stealing from me.



This is very true, as these "close friends" have the emotional attachment and easy access to your assets. This situation reminds me a lot of reading this account of famed Star Wars collectors Stephen J. Sansweet and Philip Wise being robbed by a close friend of 18 years:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/movies/a26364375/star-wars-toy-theft/


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## lotsofcoffee (Mar 18, 2021)

Brent is getting his domain back -

https://domaingang.com/domain-news/brent-oxley-saga-almost-over-as-domains-moved-to-namecheap/


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## jaydub__ (Mar 18, 2021)

Well it’s great to see but I have to say it took far too long. But apparently GD has made changes to hopefully remedy possible future episodes like this.
Left them years ago and this incident certainly won’t get me back.


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## MapleDots__ (Mar 19, 2021)

Here is the final update from JamesNames
https://www.jamesnames.com/2021/03/brent-oxley-unlocked/


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## jaydub__ (Mar 19, 2021)

This was a terrible policy that only got changed because of the uproar in the aftermarket community. And brought to a head mainly because of the enormous values of the names involved. Many smaller investors have suffered over the years due to GD heavy handedness. Now they act contrite and ...“we listened”. If not for the value and Brent’s deep pockets this heavy handedness would still be going on with many small time investors having their domains locked and GD power tripping or ignoring their pleas of “Why is this happening “. I’m not ready to forgive and forget but I’m certainly happy Brent rightfully got control of his names back and hopefully life got a little easier going forward on the smaller players that were subjected to GD’s draconian measures.
@#$& GD


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## MapleDots__ (Mar 27, 2021)

Brent Oxley said:
			
		

> After 14+ months of Godaddy holding my domains hostage and locking them without merit, they have been unlocked and safely transferred to Namecheap. I don't believe Godaddy would have ever have changed their policy if it wasn't for the community rallying to protest this injustice. Thank you all very much for your support and for helping to bring about change!
> 
> I now realize more than ever how vital the ICA is and what they're doing to protect our domain property rights in both Washington and throughout the domain industry! I highly recommend domainers to become a member of the ICA at https://www.internetcommerce.org/join/
> 
> ...




The saga has ended


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## jaydub__ (Mar 27, 2021)

Finally *THUMBSUP* ...Happy for Brent ... that was a strange and scary one.


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