- Marc Collins-Rector
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Marc Collins-Rector's mug shot, taken in 2007.
Marc John Collins-Rector (born October 16, 1959) is an American businessman best known for founding Digital Entertainment Network, an online streaming video broadcaster and a notable dot-com failure.
Contents
Early life
He changed his name from Mark Rector to Marc Collins-Rector in 1998.[1]
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.[1] Rector later founded an early ISP, Concentric Network,[2] in 1991[3] along with colleague and lover Chad Shackley.[4]
DEN
Main article: Digital Entertainment NetworkRector 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.[5]
Child enticement conviction
Collins-Rector fled to Europe, ending up in Spain. He 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.[6] Collins-Rector admitted luring five minors across state lines for sexual purposes.[7] He received credit for time that he had served in a Spanish jail. Some of his victims sued in civil court, winning a $4.5 million under a summary judgement.
Later career
Media reports claim that Collins-Rector was a silent partner in the MMORPG service company IGE, which was founded by ex-DEN VP Brock Pierce.[5] IGE initially used an address in the city of Marbella, Spain, where Collins-Rector, Shackely, and Pierce shared a villa until it was raided by Interpol in 2002.[8][9]
References
- ^ a b "latimes-josephmenn.com". http://www.josephmenn.com/print_den.html. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
- ^ "secinfo.com". http://www.secinfo.com/$/SEC/Registrant.asp?CIK=1007304. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "businessweek.com". http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_46/b3655182.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ Dibbell, Julian (2008-11-24). "The Decline and Fall of an Ultra-Rich Online Gaming Empire". Wired. http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/16-12/ff_ige?currentPage=. Retrieved 2008-12-08.
- ^ a b "radar.com". Archived from the original on 2008-01-17. http://web.archive.org/web/20080117004139/http://radaronline.com/from-the-magazine/2007/11/den_chads_world_marc_collins_rector_1.php. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "Florida Sex Offender Registry". http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/flyer.do?personId=40974. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "Ex-DEN executive admits transporting minors for sex". USA Today. 2004-06-14. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-06-14-den-head-pleads_x.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "vnu.com". http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2120349/dotcom-founders-spanish-jail. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ Lynch, Stephen (2003-11-11). "nypost.com". New York Post. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nypost/access/443848661.html?dids=443848661:443848661&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+11%2C+2003&author=STEPHEN+LYNCH&pub=New+York+Post&edition=&startpage=037&desc=A+DEN+OF+INIQUITY+. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
Categories:- 1959 births
- Living people
- American media executives
- American sex offenders
- Businesspeople in the telecommunications industry
- Businesspeople from Florida
- American business biography, 1950s birth stubs
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