LOS ANGELES — Seth Warshavsky, the early adult internet entrepreneur who founded Internet Entertainment Group, reportedly died in October in Thailand of unknown causes. He was 51.
Warshavsky was best known for his role in the Pamela Anderson/Tommy Lee sex tape scandal, as he uploaded the video and began streaming it for free before convincing the couple to sign away their rights, allowing him to profit from its distribution.
Anderson and Lee ultimately sued Warshavsky and IEG for $90 million, claiming that they deserved a share of the proceeds. They won that suit, with a judge awarding them $740,000 each.
However, Warshavsky never paid up, as his business had already gone under and he had fled to Bangkok, Thailand, by that point. Actor Fred Hechinger recently played Warshavsky in the Hulu series "Pam & Tommy."
Warshavsky entered the cam business as a young man, using the profits from a phone sex operation to set up Clublove, which would become IEG's flagship website, in a converted warehouse in Seattle, where 14 women broadcast online from four distinct sets.
IEG was among the leading internet companies positioned at the forefront of the porn explosion of the ’90s that accompanied the rise of the World Wide Web. He was dubbed “the public face of online porn” by Salon.com in 1997, while other media reports at the time referred to him as “the Bill Gates of smut.”
At the height of Warshavsky’s success, he claimed that his enterprise was raking in more than $45 million a year — with $15 million in profit — which he said demonstrated that not only does sex sell better than mainstream content, but it’s cheaper to produce.
Warshavsky sought attention for his exploits, using the media as free marketing. In 1997, he was on the front page of The Wall Street Journal, and in 1999, he made Time’s list of "The 50 Most Important People in Technology."
He even described himself as a journalist once, comparing IEG to investigative shows such as "60 Minutes" and "Hard Copy."
Warshavsky couldn't stay out of the headlines himself, however. Anderson later sued him again over a sex tape she made with Bret Michaels that IEG procured but never released. Kelsey Grammar sued IEG over a similar situation.
When Warshavsky became litigious himself, suing two former employees and IEG’s own counsel for stealing data, the Washington Post accused him of inflated revenue reports and fraudulent billings — accusations that Warshavsky disputed.
Warshavsky did try to diversify IEG’s portfolio, streaming plastic surgeries such as facelifts and breast augmentations via the website Online Surgery, which he believed offered educational benefits similar to the Discovery Channel.
According to reports on Warshavsky’s Facebook page, he was catching up with friends as recently as mid-October. They shared memories about throwing frozen TV dinners off his balcony, getting stuck in an elevator together, and his infamous reputation behind the wheel.
One thing is for certain: Warshavsky was a colorful character who made an indelible mark on the early days of online adult and belongs in any discussion of the era's industry icons.
Warshavsky is survived by his family in Thailand.
