| Marc Collins-Rector | |
| Birth Name: | Mark John Rector |
| Birth Date: | 16 October 1959 |
| Birth Place: | United States of America |
| Other Names: | Mark Collins Morgan Von Phoenix |
| Occupation: | Businessman |
Marc John Collins-Rector (born October 16, 1959) is an American-born businessman who founded Digital Entertainment Network, an online streaming video broadcaster and dot-com failure. In 2004, he was convicted of child sexual abuse which was highlighted in the 2014 documentary An Open Secret.
Collins-Rector was born Mark John Rector. He changed his name to Marc Collins-Rector in 1998.[1]
In the early 1980s, Rector founded Telequest, a Florida-based telecommunications company. In 1984, he founded World TravelNet, a company which 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 and business partner Chad Shackley founded Concentric Network, an early ISP, in 1991.[2] [3] [4]
See main article: Digital Entertainment Network. Rector and Shackley sold Concentric in 1995 and, using money raised from the sale, as well as close to $100million of investor and venture capital, formed an early Internet video media content delivery company, Digital Entertainment Network. Collins-Rector was the co-founder and chairman of DEN, which exhausted its funding following a failed IPO bid and collapsed amidst allegations of Collins-Rector having sexually abused boys, coercing them with drugs and guns.[5]
Collins-Rector and his business partners, Chad Shackley and Brock Pierce, operated DEN out of a Los Angeles mansion. There, they held parties attended by Hollywood's gay A-list.[6] At those parties, Collins-Rector and others were alleged to have engaged in sexual assaults against teenaged boys.[7]
In August 2000, a New Jersey federal grand jury indicted Collins-Rector on criminal charges that he had transported minors across state lines for the purpose of having sex with them.[8] After his indictment, Collins-Rector fled to Spain together with Shackley and Pierce. Interpol arrested the three men on May 17, 2002, in a house in the Spanish city of Marbella. Shackley and Pierce were released without being criminally charged. Guns, machetes and child pornography were found in the house.[7]
Collins-Rector 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.[9] He admitted luring five minors across state lines for sexual purposes.[10] He received credit for time that he had served in a Spanish jail and was registered as a sex offender under a weekly supervision.
In 2006, a U.S. District Court granted Collins-Rector special permission to go to the United Kingdom to receive treatment for a brain tumor.[11] He subsequently renounced his US citizenship and has never returned to the United States.[12] In 2007, he was photographed in London, and in 2008 was living in the Dominican Republic.[13], he lives in Antwerp and uses the names "Mark Collins" and "Morgan Von Phoenix".[6]
Collins-Rector was a silent partner in the MMORPG service company IGE, which was founded by ex-DEN VP Pierce - who was chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation.[5] [14] IGE initially used an address in the city of Marbella, Spain, where Collins-Rector, Shackley and Pierce shared a villa until it was raided by Interpol in 2002.[15] [16]