Marc Collins-Rector

Marc J. Collins-Rector

Marc Collins-Rector's mug shot, taken in 2007
Born Mark Rector
(1959-10-16) October 16, 1959
Residence Dominican Republic[1]
Occupation Businessman
Known for Founder, Digital Entertainment Network

Marc John Collins-Rector (born October 16, 1959) is an American businessman, a millionaire and a convicted sex offender, best known for founding Digital Entertainment Network, an online streaming video broadcaster and notable dot-com failure as well as his associations with Hollywood and Media moguls.

Early life

He changed his name from Mark John Rector to Marc Collins-Rector in 1998.[2] Today he also uses pseudonyms such as Morgan Von Phoenix.[3]

In the early 1980s Rector founded Telequest, a Florida-based telecommunications company. In 1984, Rector founded World TravelNet, a company that electronically coordinated cruises and tours; its affiliate, World ComNet, was floated on the Vancouver Stock Exchange in 1987. Its valuation briefly peaked at $100 million before increasing competition led to bankruptcy.[2] Rector later founded an early ISP, Concentric Network,[4] in 1991[5] along with colleague and lover Chad Shackley.[6]

Career

DEN

Rector and Shackley sold Concentric in 1995 and, using money raised here and close to $100m of investor and venture capital, formed an early Internet video pioneer, Digital Entertainment Network. Collins-Rector was the co-founder and chairman of DEN, which exhausted its funding following a failed IPO bid and collapsed amid allegations that Collins-Rector had sexually abused children, coercing them with drugs and guns.[7]

Later career

Media reports claim that Collins-Rector was a silent partner in the MMORPG service company IGE, which was founded by ex-DEN VP Brock Pierce - who is now a board member of the Bitcoin Foundation.[7][8] IGE initially used an address in the city of Marbella, Spain, where Collins-Rector, Shackley and Pierce shared a villa until it was raided by Interpol in 2002.[9][10]

Legal issues

Child enticement conviction

Running DEN out of a Los Angeles mansion, Collins-Rector and his two business partners - his boyfriend at the time, Chad Shackley and Pierce - hosted lavish parties attended by Hollywood’s gay A-list.[11] It was at those parties that Collins-Rector and others allegedly sexually assaulted half a dozen teenage boys, according to two sets of civil lawsuits, the first filed in 2000 and the second in 2014.[12][13]

First set of lawsuits

In 2000, three DEN employees filed lawsuits against Collins-Rector, Shackley and Pierce. The plaintiffs Michael Egan, Alexander Burton, who played Pyro in the first X-Men film, and Mark Ryan complained that the three defendants sexually assaulted and abused them severely. Collins-Rector did not respond to the suit, and the plaintiffs were awarded a multimillion-dollar default judgement, according to court records. Others who were plaintiffs in lawsuits accusing Collins-Rector of sexual abuse include:

• A 15-year-old boy named Ben L. who traveled from Minnesota to California to work in print and television ads was taken to Collins-Rector’s home. There, Collins-Rector allegedly “made sexual contact with L. by means of intimidation,” according to the complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in February 2001. The court awarded the plaintiff a default judgement of just over $250,000, according to court records.

• A 15-year-old boy named Ryan G. Collins-Rector allegedly flew the boy from his home in Michigan to Los Angeles at least 15 times from 1996 to 1997, where he provided him with alcoholic drinks, fondled him, engaged in oral sex with him, and purchased at least $12,000 in clothing and gifts, according to the complaint filed in May 2003 in Los Angeles Superior Court. The court awarded a default judgement against Collins-Rector for an unspecified amount, according to court records.

In August 2000 a New Jersey federal grand jury indicted Collins-Rector on criminal charges that he had transported minors across state lines for the purpose of having sex with them.[14]

Interpol arrest and incarceration

After his indictment by a grand jury in 2000, Collins-Rector fled to Spain together with Shackley and Pierce. Interpol arrested them in May 2002 in a villa in the south Spanish beach city of Marbella. Guns, machetes and child pornography were found in the house. Pierce and Shackley were held for about a month then released.

Collins-Rector fought extradition proceedings for two years before returning to the United States, where he pleaded guilty to eight charges of child enticement and registered as a sex offender.[15] Collins-Rector admitted luring five minors across state lines for sexual purposes.[16] He received credit for time that he had served in a Spanish jail and was registered as a sex offender under a weekly supervision.[16][17][18]

In 2006, a U.S. District Court granted Collins-Rector special permission to go to the United Kingdom to receive treatment for “a brain tumor”.[19]

In October 2007 the British paper The Sun published an photo of Collins-Rector in a tan blazer, accompanied by a young man. The article reported that "a millionaire pedophile from America is swanning around Britain in a chauffeur-driven limo and surrounding himself with young boys".[20]

Later that year, Collins-Rector’s attorney filed a motion to terminate his client’s supervision requirement, according. The court ordered Collins-Rector’s immediate return. The D.A wrote that Collins-Rector “had abused the permission he received to travel” by “engaging in wholly inappropriate business and personal relationships with teenage boys”. Collins-Rector returned to Florida on Sept. 4, 2007, to spend the last 31 days of his supervised release in the United States. Once his time was up, he returned to Europe.

In August 2008, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement updated its records on Collins-Rector for the last time, listing him as living in an unspecified address in the Dominican Republic. In 2011, Collins-Rector renounced his American citizenship.[14][21]

Second set of lawsuits

In 2014 more sexual assault lawsuits rocked Hollywood. The co-defendants included Hollywood director Bryan Singer and three other prominent film industry figures, all of whom were investors in DEN.[21] The charges against Singer were dropped in 2014. In 2015 accuser Michael Egan was found guilty of fraud in an unrelated case.[22]

References

  1. ↑ "More entertainment figures accused of sex abuse". USA Today (Gannett Company). Associated Press. 2014-04-21. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  2. 1 2 Menn, Joseph; Miller, Gregg (2000-05-07). "How a Visionary Venture on the Web Unraveled". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  3. ↑ "Morgan von Phoenix Facebook". www.documentcloud.org. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  4. ↑ "Concentric Network Corp, SEC filings". SEC Info. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  5. ↑ Grover, Ronald; Siklos, Richard (1999-11-14). "Digital Entertainment Network: Startup or Non-Starter?". BusinessWeek. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  6. ↑ Dibbell, Julian (2008-11-24). "The Decline and Fall of an Ultra-Rich Online Gaming Empire". Wired. Archived from the original on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  7. 1 2 Gorenfeld, John; Runkle, Patrick (2007-11-05). "Fast Company". Radar Online. American Media. Archived from the original on 2008-01-17. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  8. ↑ "bitcoinfoundation.org - Board Election Results Announcemen". bitcoinfoundation.org. 2014-05-09.
  9. ↑ Farrell, Nick (2002-10-10). "Dotcom founders still in Spanish jail". VNU Business Press. Archived from the original on 2005-12-17. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  10. ↑ Lynch, Stephen (2003-11-11). "A DEN OF INIQUITY ; AFTER 3-YEAR EXILE, WEB EXEC FACES PERV CHARGES". New York Post (News Corporation). Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  11. ↑ "Found: The Elusive Man At The Heart Of The Hollywood Sex Abuse Scandal". http://www.buzzfeed.com/. 2014-06-26. External link in |website= (help)
  12. ↑ "2000: Burton, Ryan, Egan vs. Collins-Rector complaint". www.documentcloud.org. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  13. ↑ "Egan vs. Singer complaint". www.documentcloud.org. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  14. 1 2 "Mystery Man At Center Of Alleged Hollywood Sex Ring Has Vanished". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  15. ↑ "Florida Sex Offender Registry". Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  16. 1 2 "Ex-DEN executive admits transporting minors for sex". USA Today (Gannett Company). Associated Press. 2004-06-14. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  17. ↑ Frauenfelder, Mark (2007-11-15). "Gold-farming empire linked to dot-com child abuse scandal". Boing Boing. Retrieved 2014-04-24.
  18. ↑ "Bryan Singer Sex Abuse Case: The Troubling History Behind the Accusations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  19. ↑ "From The Magazine : Radar Online". 2008-04-18. Archived from the original on April 18, 2008. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  20. ↑ "Tycoon paedo on prowl in UK". www.thesun.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  21. 1 2 "Found: The Elusive Man At The Heart Of The Hollywood Sex Abuse Scandal". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  22. ↑ http://www.tmz.com/2015/04/28/michael-egan-guilty-plea-fraud-bryan-singer/
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