(Case Dropped) Man claims he and friends were duped for $123,000 in fresh top level domain scheme

Man states he and friends invested $123,000 for fresh top level domain project that never got off the ground.

[Update: the lawsuit has been dropped.]

A Florida man has filed a lawsuit alleging he was duped by a fresh top level domain name scheme.

David Ways planned to apply for the .bim top level domain name. As stated by the lawsuit, Ways states he contacted VeriSign regarding his plans and they referred him to Iain Roache as a potential funding source.

Roache is listed as the Chief Executive Officer of a number of firms that have applied for fresh TLDs through Famous Four Media. Famous Four Media is listed as the contact and “administrative services provider” on 60 fresh TLD applications. The firm is named in the suit.

Ways alleges that Roache represented himself and various affiliated firms as a group that could prepare and finance applications for fresh top level domain names.

He alleges that Roache informed him he would need to come up with at least $24,000 in seed money for an 8% stake in the .bim project. Ways and his family and friends paid nearly $123,000 to Roache and the affiliated firms, as stated by the suit.

Ways states he was promised that he would become a full time employee of DotBIM LLP no later than January 2011. As CEO of the firm, he would have an annual base compensation of $100,000 plus milestone bonuses, he claims in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that Roache and affiliated firms did not perform any of the tasks it agreed to.

No one applied for the .bim top level domain name.

You can read the full allegations here (pdf

Update 10/29/12: here’s the exhibit to the suit with the alleged business agreement.