A DEN OF INIQUITY
After three years on the lam, the founder of the garish start-up Digital Entertainment Network is awaiting trial in both New Jersey and California stemming from his relationships with 13-year- old boys.
DEN was the poster child for dot-com excesses, a multimedia Web site that attracted more than $60 million in investments from corporations like Microsoft and NBC. The company, which produced online shows aimed at Gen Y, had planned a $75 million IPO.
Authorities said Collins-Rector recruited teenage employees, whom he encouraged to accompany him on trips. One was the 13-year-old in the New Jersey case, who worked from his home for Collins-Rector's former start-up, Internet service provider Concentric Networks.
But by 2000, Collins-Rector was under criminal investigation and DEN, like many dot-coms, had filed for bankruptcy liquidation.
The executive fled to Spain with co-executives Chad Shackley and Pierce. The trio were arrested last year on charges in the seaside town of Marbella, but Shackley and Pierce were released in June 2002. It took more than a year for Spain to extradite Collins-Rector.
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