It has now been nearly a year since shamed Epik CEO Rob Monster co-mingled Epik Escrow customer funds into general company spending at Epik, with many customers still being owed tens of thousands of dollars, and in some cases – millions of dollars from the under fire far right company, after their funds went missing and were not able to be withdrawn.
DomainEmpire, a widely respected British company, are still owed $1.5 million from Epik. They have yet to receive a cent of their money. They went public with their debt on Trustpilot (see below).
Other creditors include Igor Gabrielan, who is still owed $45,000, and a Chinese user who went public on Namepros, who is still owed $62,284 (source).
One customer was known to receive treatment for their mental health, when the stress of having their $91,000 stolen became too much.
Namepros users started to report that they were unable to withdraw their funds from the Epik Escrow service run by CEO Rob Monster on 20th September 2022. Shortly after, Rob Monster stated that upgrades were to blame for the delay in funds being released to their rightful recipients. On 29th September 2022, Rob Monster said to a client that his funds were “safe”, whilst knowing that his funds were co-mingled into general company spending and were unavailable to be withdrawn. He also blamed delays in payouts on the new CEO Brian Royce having regular medical attention for the recovery of a broken back.
Rob Monster Accused of Misrepresentation, Embezzlement and Misappropriation
Rob Monster and Brian Royce, the individual who took over from Rob Monster, were then both hit with a lawsuit related to a “widespread and illegal fraudulent scheme – replete with misrepresentations, embezzlement and misappropriation”.
Matthew Adkisson had $307,000 stolen by Epik, when he used Epik for purchasing the Nourish.com domain name. Adkisson sent $307,000 for the domain to Epik, and Epik kept the money and didn’t give him the Nourish.com domain in return.
Adkisson stated that his monies were used for funding other Epik expenditure, instead of being used to finance the purchase of Nourish.com – and possibly even used for personal purposes. The lawsuit stated:
In a subsequent phone call, Epik, through its counsel, admitted that it owed Adkisson the $327,000 it had promised to hold in escrow, and that sometime after Adkisson wired the funds to Epik, it was misappropriated, embezzled or both. In any case, Epik conceded that the Escrow Funds were no longer available. Epik further claimed that the company was “cash strapped” and that Adkisson’s Escrow Funds were used to pay other debts.
The lawsuit submitted by Adkisson’s legal team stated that Epik was running Ponzi-like elements, with funds taken in from new customers being sent to other customers to pay off their debts.
The lawsuit against Brian Royce, Rob Monster, Epik and Masterbucks suggested that criminality had taken place, with Rob Monster facing the following charges…
- Fraudulent Mispresentation
- Violation of the Washington Consumer Protections Act
- Violations of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
- Unjust Enrichment
- Conversion
The case was then settled out of court, but other Epik customers who couldn’t afford legal representation to be repaid, have not had their money returned to them.
Rob Monster Unapologetic to His Customers
Rob Monster also ridiculed people he owed money to, including accusing one client of having OCD for asking for the remainder of his funds to be returned to him, stating he was at the back of the queue on a Skype call, before following up on this quote by saying “I am fairly sure your energy would have been better spent elsewhere by the time this all wraps up”. This seems to have been a tactic used by Rob Monster to try and get people to “lose hope”, and divert their attention elsewhere, which has been confirmed by a number of sources.
How Much Does Epik Owe Customers?
On a Skype call with a customer on 9th June 2023, Rob Monster stated that $700,000 was still due to Epik customers. When he has pressed on the $1.5 million debt of DomainEmpire following the call, Monster stated that he couldn’t comment, and didn’t have administrative access to the Masterbucks system. So, if Rob Monster doesn’t really know how much he and Epik owes their customers, then it is safe to assume that there is no strategy or plan in place to repay these customers in a timely manner, if at all, with some commentators saying that bankruptcy is an option for Epik, after the assets of Epik were sold to another company. Some suspect that Monster is on both sides of the transaction, which he denies. But, someone who is known to be economical with the truth will say that won’t they? *rolls eyes*
Have You Had Money Stolen by Rob Monster and Epik?
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Last Updated: July 27, 2023
