.ASIA

Did Pool, auction operator for the .ASIA Sunrise, rig some of the auctions to secure valuable names for itself or its CEO Richard Schreier?

Both Pool and .ASIA registry DotAsia have had to go into major damage control after being accused of auction rigging by Thomas Rucker and his company Madunia. On his website, Rucker claims that Schreier built up a complex network of shadow companies (see photo) to preempt the .ASIA Sunrise auctions and secure valuable names like porn.asia, insurance.asia or girls.asia.

In an email sent to DomainNews.com, Schreier responded by revealing that Rucker may be not squeaky clean himself: "We believe the actions taken by Thomas Rucker and Madunia Modellbau GmbH are a retaliation by Reucker/Madunia as a result of their exclusion from certain DotAsia auctions (which Reucker/Madunia itself discloses on the "notes" section of the website). This exclusion was the result of the investigation by Pool.com and the DotAsia Organisation into possible bid rigging (…) This investigation is proper and warranted. We will resist all efforts to interfere in this investigation or otherwise undermine the integrity of the .ASIA auctions."

The plot thickens…