ICANN sends Notice of Termination to Domain Registrar Est Domains

ICANN, which has regulatory responsibility for the generic domain space, sent an official Notice of Termination of the ICANN Registrar Accreditation Agreement to registrar Est Domains on October 28.  It is widely alleged that Est Domains knowingly harbors and supports domain registrations for criminal enterprises, including spam and phishing gangs, as its main source of revenue. ICANN moved to terminate Est Domains’ agreement when ICANN was made aware that Vladimir Tsastsin, the president of Est Domains, had been convicted in Estonia earlier this year for credit card fraud, money laundering and document forgery.  It is a violation of the ICANN registrar contract for an officer of the registrar to have a felony conviction.