Oh Snap!

The sale of the .org registry has been put on hold because the California Attorney General has initiated an investigation of the transaction:

The California State Attorney General's Office (CA-OAG) sent a letter last week to DNS overlord ICANN asking for confidential information about the planned sale of the .org registry and a delay of the transaction.

ICANN, which disclosed the letter on Thursday, responded by notifying the Public Internet Registry (PIR), which intends to sell the .org registry to a private equity firm called Ethos Capital, that it has been asked to provide private data about the deal.

The DNS overseer, which bestowed .org oversight on PIR through a legal agreement, wants PIR to greenlight the CA-OAG's disclosure demand and to wait longer before completing the sale. ICANN notes in its letter to PIR that the CA-OAG's missive amounts to a subpoena, the implication being that the CA-OAG could file a lawsuit if compliance isn't voluntary.

………

The CA-OAG is asking for all email correspondence between the parties involved in the deal, among other sensitive information, and for additional time to review the arrangement. It wants to understand the effect the sale would have on the non-profit community.

ICANN in turn has asked PIR [PDF] to agree an extension of ICANN's review process from February 17, 2020 to April 20, 2020.

The Register asked PIR whether it intends to accept ICANN's request for a delay. A PIR spokesperson responded by acknowledging ICANN's letter but failed to say whether the organization is okay with the delay.

Here is hoping that this will lead to criminal  indictments.