WhereIsAtlas · Technology

Established Men

Ashley Madison's sister site — a 2009 sugar-daddy brand that the 2015 hackers demanded be shut down alongside it, promoted through a "founder" who turned out to be a paid spokeswoman

Defunct — Established Men was a dating website owned by Avid Life Media, the Toronto company behind Ashley Madison, and launched alongside Cougar Life in 2009. It sat next to Ashley Madison in the July 2015 breach: the Impact Team said it would publish the data it had taken unless Avid Life shut down both sites. A 2015 Financial Post investigation, working from emails leaked in that breach, reported that the woman presented as Established Men's founder and chief executive had in fact been hired to promote the site. The site does not appear to be operating. No company announcement of a closure was found, and no closure date could be confirmed; archived captures of the domain in January 2025 and August 2026 redirect to a page branded Ashley Madison, which is the strongest available evidence that the standalone service has ended.

Established Men was a dating website operated by Avid Life Media Inc., the Toronto-based parent company of Ashley Madison. The Financial Post described it as "a site aimed at connecting wealthy men with young women who appreciate the benefits of dating wealthy men" — a sugar-daddy brand, in the same commercial category as SeekingArrangement and other paid-membership dating services of the period ^[1].

Avid Life launched it in 2009, at the same time and with the same publicity push as Cougar Life. The Financial Post, working from corporate emails leaked in the 2015 Ashley Madison breach, reported that "Cougar Life was one of two new websites Avid Life launched with a big splash in 2009. The other was the sugar-daddy site Established Men" ^[1].

Its public face was Simone Dadoun-Cohen, described variously as the founder, creator or chief executive of Established Men on The Tyra Banks Show, ABC News and elsewhere. The Financial Post reported that emails from then-chief executive Noel Biderman indicated the women who promoted themselves in national media as top executives at Avid Life's niche sites — Cougar Life, The Big and the Beautiful and Established Men — had been hired to attract publicity and new members, and that in reality they were spokesmodels. Dadoun-Cohen declined to comment when contacted ^[1].

The same investigation found an email chain in which staff were deciding who to attribute quotes to in a press release for Established Men; Biderman suggested making up a name, and a member of the public-relations team offered to play "Vanessa Charles", an apparently fictional spokeswoman ^[1].

Established Men is the second of the two sites the Impact Team named. When the group breached Ashley Madison in July 2015, it threatened to publish the data unless Avid Life Media permanently closed both Ashley Madison and its sister site Established Men. The site was not closed, and the data was published ^[2]^[3].

What happened to Established Men afterwards is thinly documented. The December 2016 settlement between the Federal Trade Commission, the District of Columbia and 13 states and the Ashley Madison owners — ruby Corp., ruby Life, Inc. and ADL Media, Inc. — is described in the public announcements in terms of the Ashley Madison website, and neither the regulator's release nor the commission's headline names Established Men ^[4]. The site's own end is not marked by any announcement that could be found: the clearest signal is that archived captures of its domain resolve to an Ashley Madison-branded page ^[6].

Timeline

2009 — The site launches: Avid Life Media launches the sugar-daddy site Established Men alongside Cougar Life, both promoted with a public-relations push. (Toronto)
2009 — The "founder" is presented: Simone Dadoun-Cohen is described as the founder, creator or chief executive of Established Men on The Tyra Banks Show, ABC News and elsewhere.
2012 — The public face changes: By 2012 Dadoun-Cohen had stopped appearing for the site, and internal emails discuss whether to pay her for one more interview about sugar-daddy dating.
19 Jul 2015 — The Impact Team names the site: Hackers who took Ashley Madison's data threaten to publish it unless Avid Life Media permanently closes both Ashley Madison and its sister site Established Men.
2 Oct 2015 — The spokesmodel story breaks: A Financial Post investigation, working from emails leaked in the Ashley Madison breach, reports that the women presented as executives at Avid Life's niche sites were hired to attract publicity. (Toronto)
15 Dec 2016 — The settlement: The FTC, the District of Columbia and 13 states settle with ruby Corp., ruby Life, Inc. and ADL Media, Inc. over the Ashley Madison breach; the public announcements name Ashley Madison, not Established Men. (Washington, D.C.)
Jul 2024 — Reported inactive: A dating-industry review page later states Established Men was no longer active as of July 2024 — a claim that could not be confirmed from any other source.
3 Aug 2026 — The domain points elsewhere: An Internet Archive capture of establishedmen.com redirects to a page branded Ashley Madison, indicating no standalone Established Men service remains.

Quick facts

Launched: 2009, by Avid Life Media Inc. of Toronto
Position: a sister site to Ashley Madison; a "sugar-daddy" dating brand
Launched alongside: Cougar Life, in the same 2009 publicity push
Public face: Simone Dadoun-Cohen, presented as founder, creator or chief executive
Reported reality: hired spokesmodels, per a Financial Post investigation published 2 October 2015
Also in that reporting: an apparently fictional spokeswoman, "Vanessa Charles", proposed for an Established Men press release
Named by the hackers: yes — the Impact Team demanded both sites be shut down in July 2015
In the 2016 settlement: the public announcements name Ashley Madison and its corporate owners, not Established Men
Reported inactive: as of July 2024, per a dating-industry review page — not independently confirmed
Domain: archived captures from January 2025 and August 2026 redirect to a page branded Ashley Madison
Current status: no standalone Established Men site appears to be operating; no closure was ever announced

Lineage — where the name went

A sugar-daddy brand launched in 2009 as one of Avid Life Media's niche dating sites, sold through a hired "founder", named in the Impact Team's shutdown demand beside Ashley Madison, and absent from the settlement that followed — until its domain stopped serving a site of its own.

2009 — Avid Life Media created Established Men (launched as one of two niche dating sites that year)
2009 — Avid Life Media created Cougar Life (the other site launched in the same publicity push)
Avid Life Media was parent of Ashley Madison (the parent company of the sister site)
Ashley Madison sibling-of Established Men (the two sites shared the same owner)
2016 — Avid Life Media rebranded as Ruby Corp (the parent was renamed Ruby Corp)
Noel Biderman served under Avid Life Media (chief executive until August 2015)
Simone Dadoun-Cohen served under Established Men (presented as its founder and chief executive)
2015 — The Impact Team breach defeated Avid Life Media (the breach whose demands named both sites)
2015 — The Impact Team breach defeated Established Men (the group demanded the site be shut down alongside Ashley Madison)
2016 — The FTC and multistate settlement defeated Ruby Corp ($1,657,000, with a possible rise to $17.5 million)
2026 — The domain moves was succeeded by The FTC and multistate settlement (years after the settlement, the domain stopped serving a standalone site)

Entities in this tree: Established Men (brand, 2009); Avid Life Media (company); Ashley Madison (company, 2001); Cougar Life (brand, 2009); Ruby Corp (company); Noel Biderman (person); Simone Dadoun-Cohen (person); The Impact Team breach (event, 2015); The FTC and multistate settlement (event, 2016); The domain moves (event)

Sources

The women who fooled everyone by pretending to be executives at Ashley Madison's sister websites — Financial Post (via the Internet Archive) (2026-09-19) ↩
Ashley Madison data breach — Wikipedia (2026-09-19) ↩
Ashley Madison — Wikipedia (2026-09-19) ↩
Owners of Ashley Madison Enter Into Settlement with District, Other States, and FTC Concerning Data Breach — Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia (2026-09-19) ↩
Established Men Review 2026: Cost, Pros/Cons, What To Expect — Photofeeler Blog (2026-09-19)
Wayback Machine capture of establishedmen.com, 3 August 2026 — Internet Archive (2026-09-19) ↩