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Sedari

From ICANNWiki
Type: Privately held
Industry: Consulting and Technology
Founded: 2011
Founder(s): Liz Williams
Headquarters: Brussels
Country: Belgium
Website: www.sedari.com
Blog: Sedari Blog
Facebook: Sedari
LinkedIn: Sedari
Twitter: @SedariNews
Key People
Dr. Liz Williams, CEO

Sedari is a domain consultancy firm offering advice to companies interested in operating their own top level domain name (TLD). The firm aims to help their clients outsource their day to day risk responsibility and registry operations in compliance with ICANN's requirements. Dr. Liz Williams, former ICANN policy advisor, serves as CEO of the company.[1][2]

Clients[edit | edit source]

The Foundation for Assistance for Internet Technologies and Infrastructure Development (FAITID) chose Sedari to assist the foundation to prepare and file its application to operate the .moscow and .москва TLDs.[3]

Partnership with Digital Archery Experts[edit | edit source]

The company partnered with Digital Archery Experts to ensure that its clients will be able to secure a spot in the first batch of evaluation. Digital Archery Experts, an affiliate of .CLUB Domains LLC, is offering the Batch One Bulleye digital archery service.[4] Digital Archery was later abandoned by ICANN as a means to determine the flow of the evaluation and delegation process, so the partnership was never fully realized.

Lawsuits[edit | edit source]

Kevin Wilson, former ICANN CFO, was recruited by Williams to join the company and assumed the same position he held at ICANN. Wilson accepted the position of CFO and also agreed to invest €100,000 in the company. After giving an initial investment of €50,000 to the company, however, his relationship with Williams became sour after he raised the concern that it was impossible for him to perform the duties of a CFO without being given full access to the company's bank information. In response, Williams promised that he would soon have full access to the company's bank accounts. In October, 2011, Wilson refused to give the additional €50,000 to complete his investment to the company and was subsequently terminated as CFO. Following his termination, Wilson filed a Declaratory Relief and Fraud lawsuit against Sedari, seeking the return of his initial €50,000 investment to the company. He claimed that the promise made by Williams that he would have full access to the company's financial records as CFO was false. He also claimed that representations regarding clients, revenue opportunities, bank account and expenses were not true.[5]

In a statement, Sedari claimed that Wilson broke his legally-binding obligations to the company, in particular the agreement that he would not act against the interest of the company. Because of his actions, the Board decided to forfeit his shares. Sedari dismissed the allegations and said that it would fight the case.[6]

References[edit | edit source]