So where does one keep the most publicly scandalous 15 minutes of grainy videotape since Tommy Lee and Pamela? Try a brick office building on Eastlake. Seattle-based Marvad Corp., the company currently in possession of the Paris Hilton sex tape, is housed in a shabby office a few blocks north of Eastlake's yuppie restaurant district. A ground-floor outer window warns solicitors and uninvited guests not to enter. One floor up, the office is locked tight--the door doesn't budge, there is no secretary at the desk. The only things visible inside the inner sanctum are two framed Beavis and Butt-Head posters.
Marvad owns sexbrat.com, the porn site that was set to distribute the compromising video of New York socialite Paris Hilton and then-boyfriend Rick Solomon until the company was sued into submission. (Sexbrat.com offers glossy, pay-by-subscription fare, specializing in nude celebrity pics and videos. Dr. Laura is featured "in the buff"). Solomon filed a $10 million lawsuit on Thursday, November 13, against the company, which in turn filed a suit against Donald Thrasher, Solomon's former roommate. (Thrasher supplied the video to Marvad, the company's publicist Kevin Blagg told the press.) Thrasher, Marvad claims in a federal lawsuit, led the company to believe he owned the video. Solomon disputes the ownership in a lawsuit of his own against Thrasher. Litigious Solomon also filed suit against Hilton for slandering him when the tape first surfaced.
Marvad has shelved the video for the time being. Meanwhile, other parties have put video segments (and some Hilton hoaxes) online. Neither the company nor its lawyers returned our calls.
