While riches were being minted and squandered in the dot-com ?90s, Mr. Gordon made a fortune by taking a commission for processing sales on a range of sites from small, mainstream retailers to others like ClubLove, which published the Pamela Anderson-Tommy Lee sex tape. Today, his payment processing company continues to have roots in the world of sexual entertainment. One of the several companies he owns or operates, Processing Solutions, facilitates credit card transactions for the Web sites of DTI, or Dial Talk International, according to current and former employees familiar with the arrangements.
DTI is based on the Caribbean island of Curaçao and runs, from Los Angeles, a vast and profitable network of explicit Web sites for the Japanese market.
As the Web has evolved since the early days of e-commerce, so has Mr. Gordon. Although he fashioned his early career around credit card transactions and helping Internet pornographers, he has more recently adopted an ecumenical approach to business as the shepherd for an altogether different endeavor: a Christian charity.
Until last week, Bold New World, his Los Angeles-based Web design firm, had a lucrative contract to design sites for the American Bible Society ? the 192-year-old philanthropy based in Manhattan whose mission is to make a Bible available to every person in the world.
Bold New World has also created the Web site for a charity called SPCA International, which fights animal abuse; it helps members of the armed forces bring dogs home from Iraq. That charity has been stirring controversy in the animal-rights world because it owns no animal shelter and is unaffiliated with older and more established societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals.
Although Mr. Gordon has yoked together disparate endeavors that support pornography, the Bible, and prevention of animal abuse ? all by marrying the universal purchasing power of credit cards to the respectability conveyed by slick Web sites ? those familiar with his operations say his relationship with DTI remains the nexus of his enterprise.
There are no official numbers on the pornography industry. But those who have studied its operations view DTI as a pivotal player in the world of pornography. ?DTI appears to rank in the top 1 percent of adult entertainment companies in the world,? said M. J. McMahon, publisher of AVN Online, an Internet news site covering the industry.
DTI is based on the Caribbean island of Curaçao and runs, from Los Angeles, a vast and profitable network of explicit Web sites for the Japanese market.
As the Web has evolved since the early days of e-commerce, so has Mr. Gordon. Although he fashioned his early career around credit card transactions and helping Internet pornographers, he has more recently adopted an ecumenical approach to business as the shepherd for an altogether different endeavor: a Christian charity.
Until last week, Bold New World, his Los Angeles-based Web design firm, had a lucrative contract to design sites for the American Bible Society ? the 192-year-old philanthropy based in Manhattan whose mission is to make a Bible available to every person in the world.
Bold New World has also created the Web site for a charity called SPCA International, which fights animal abuse; it helps members of the armed forces bring dogs home from Iraq. That charity has been stirring controversy in the animal-rights world because it owns no animal shelter and is unaffiliated with older and more established societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals.
Although Mr. Gordon has yoked together disparate endeavors that support pornography, the Bible, and prevention of animal abuse ? all by marrying the universal purchasing power of credit cards to the respectability conveyed by slick Web sites ? those familiar with his operations say his relationship with DTI remains the nexus of his enterprise.
There are no official numbers on the pornography industry. But those who have studied its operations view DTI as a pivotal player in the world of pornography. ?DTI appears to rank in the top 1 percent of adult entertainment companies in the world,? said M. J. McMahon, publisher of AVN Online, an Internet news site covering the industry.
Its a bit of a long article but a good read about someone who manages to be under the radar but still in the "top 1 percent of adult entertainment companies".
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