The Players Ball by David Kushner

Author:David Kushner
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

CHAPTER 8

RANCHO

Not just anyone could get a home in Rancho Santa Fe, the posh enclave of five thousand residents thirty miles north of San Diego. Dubbed “the richest town in America” by the Associated Press, Rancho had been home to some of the country’s rich and famous for decades: Howard Hughes, Bing Crosby, Bill Gates. The sprawling mansions dotted the winding roads, shrouded in sweet-smelling eucalyptus and lemon trees.

The town prided itself on a strict “Protective Covenant” that ensured homes had the proper acreage between them and designs that were pleasing to the eye. “To buy a property up here you have to invest a lot of money,” as the town’s planning director told the AP, “but once you invest a lot of money, you don’t have to worry about a McMansion going up next door that’s flamingo red.”

From the outside, the $3 million, eight-thousand-square-foot estate at 17427 Los Morros Road—with its Spanish-style roof, tennis court, guesthouse, and kidney-shaped, palm-tree-lined pool—met all the community standards. There was even a suit of armor in the foyer. Little did the neighbors know, however, that the masterful mogul of online porn, Stephen Cohen, was living with his new family inside.

Rosey had picked out the home the year before, a bucolic estate where, as she later recalled, she hoped to start “a new life” beyond Mexico with her two daughters and Cohen. She didn’t know how much Cohen had paid, or where he got his money. “I never asked,” she said. She was just happy to have a peaceful place to raise her girls, with good schools nearby, and enough room for her large, extended family across the border to come and go. This suited Cohen perfectly enough. With its rolling hills and moneyed neighbors, it reminded him of his glory years running The Club in Orange County, just two hours north. Like the Mel Brooks line, Cohen finally felt like it was good to be the king. He deserved this life, this fiefdom, ruling the net, legions of wannabes hoping to be in business with him, while his family enjoyed the fruits of his labor. Despite what his mother had always told him, he had amounted to plenty, he thought, puffing out his chest. While his wife and children spent their days poolside under the palms he would travel down to Tijuana to build his Sex.com empire, beam internet over the border, and keep his rival, Gary Kremen, at bay.

He had reason to be concerned. Kremen was showing no signs of backing down and, if anything, digging in even more against him. They seemed to have one thing in common: they were equally obsessed. Despite the fact that Cohen had control of Sex.com, Kremen was capitalizing on his PR as the inventor of online dating to cash in on the buzz over online porn. All Cohen had to do was go online and search for Kremen’s name to find that Kremen was, on November 10, 1999, a featured panelist on “integrity in adult entertainment online” at an internet conference in San Francisco.

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