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Guilty Plea Entered in Landmark Domain Theft Case

by Terrence O'Brien on December 15, 2010 at 01:00 PM

Domain Theft
In 2005, New Jersey resident Daniel Goncalves allegedly hacked into the e-mail account of domain name squatter investor Albert Angel, and used the information he found to transfer ownership of the domain P2P.com to his GoDaddy account. Shortly thereafter, Goncalves flipped the domain on eBay for $111,000 to NBA star Mark Madsen, who was unaware that the domain had been stolen. Goncalves attempted to cover his tracks, but, in 2009, New Jersey's State Police Cyber-Crime Unit caught up with him. That's when Goncalves became the first person arrested for domain name theft in the U.S.

On Monday, Goncalves stood up in court, and plead guilty to stealing P2P.com and selling it illegally. The landmark case, being the first of its kind, will serve to set a precedent for future domain-theft trials. Goncalves, however, still has court dates ahead of him. His guilty plea was entered in a civil suit brought by the domain's former owners. Now, he will have to face a criminal court, which will likely charge him with a felony.

Tags: crime, daniel goncalves, DanielGoncalves, domain, DomainNameTheft, law, lawsuit, p2p.com, theft, top, web

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