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On 28 October 2008, ICANN sent a notice of termination to EstDomains http://www.icann.org/correspondence/burnette-to-tsastsin-28oct08-en.pdf [PDF, 76K]. Based on an Estonian Court record, ICANN has reason to believe that the president of EstDomains, Vladimir Tsastsin, was convicted of credit card fraud, money laundering and document forgery on 6 February 2008.

Pursuant to Section 5.3 of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA), ICANN may terminate the RAA before its expiration when, “Any officer or director of [a] Registrar is convicted or a felony or of a misdemeanor related to financial activities, or is adjudged by a court to have committed fraud or breach of fiduciary duty, or is the subject of judicial determination that ICANN deems as the substantive equivalent of any of these; provided such officer or director is not removed in such circumstances.”

ICANN received a response from EstDomains regarding the notice of termination. http://www.icann.org/correspondence/poltev-to-burnette-29oct08-en.pdf [PDF, 853K] To assess the merits of the claims made in EstDomains’ response, ICANN has stayed the termination process as ICANN analyzes these claims.

ICANN’s records indicate that EstDomains has approximately 281,000 domain names under its management. ICANN will take all reasonable measures to protect the interests of registrants during the stay period and the subsequent termination process that may follow.  For information regarding ICANN’s De-Accredited Registrar Transition Procedure, please go to: http://www.icann.org/processes/registrars/de-accredited-registrar-transition-procedure-01oct08.pdf [PDF, 119K].