A Las Vegas man, who may or may not be related to the Sofa.com bandit, has pleaded guilty to plotting to steal domain names by posing as a California intellectual property lawyer. The not-so-brilliant David Scali created the email address trademarkinfringement@netzero.net in 2006 and during June and July of last year, threatened various domain owners with high dollar law suits unless they promptly handed over their domains.

In one case his scheme succeeded and where a victim turned over a domain name similar to citysearch.com. The case was investigated by the F.B.I. He has agreed to plead guilty to a wire fraud charge which can carry a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, however prosecutors will only ask for a range of probation to six months in custody. Scali will face various fines and during this probation period his computer use will be monitored.