How to get clients to stop micro-managing design?

Ethical / Legal Web Management Dilemma. Please help!?

• I am in business for myself in computer services and consulting. I don't do much with web design / development, but have reasonable knowledge to handle DNS management etc. Early this year, I was working with a guy down the street who owned a web development company. I thought i knew him well, and had been recommending him to my clients when they needed websites. For whatever reason, in his words "a perfect storm of events" led to him closing up his office, and refocusing his efforts on a good niche market within web development. He and i, meanwhile, began working more closely together such that he would develop websites under my company name (and my involvement). Things were looking good, framework was in place, pricing etc. Then for still no conceivable reason, he stopped answering his phone, stopped all of his projects (thankfully he hadn't done any under my name yet), just disappeared. I knew he was around town, and heard through family that he was leaving for Nashville to do who knows what. In the midst of all this, suddenly several of his former clients, with their signed contracts (again, not involving me), couldn't get in touch with him. Being the "other tech company in town", they started calling me asking about him, and if i knew where their thousands of dollars had gone. Honestly, i have no idea what happened or why this seemingly upstanding guy suddenly cut out, but now a number of businesses in town paid thousands and have nothing at all to show for it. Here's the twist: he left his computer at my shop, and i searched for what i could to see if anything could be found. As a result, i now have about 80 passwords for different websites he used, including his hosting site, his registrar, a gmail account or two, and so on. For the most part, most people and businesses appear to be SOL, but a few of them around town, including a prominent community organization, do have domains under his registrar that are set to expire, or have websites hosted as subdomains of his old primary web site. This to me just reeks of bad practices. Now to the questions: I want to help whoever i can, but i'm not a web developer. This guy does not respond to any communication from me or anyone i've talked to. Honest paying businesses are riding the rails to losing their websites if this guy decides to stop paying his host (which, his card listed with them is expired), change his password (same one for most everything though) etc. Furthermore, anyone who needs site work done, is stuck because no other developer will have access to their sites / domain name. I could start contacting some of these people, but what would i say? what can i do? if i start transferring their domains to individual accounts, he will likely get notified and the red flags will go up. who knows if it would be a "load off his back" and not care, or if he will change password and THE END. alternatively its possible to change the primary email address for the registrar, but i don't have access to the original, so if i changed it back he'd get notified. I could go on and on about possibilities, but i think most people qualified to answer this question could figure them out on their own. I'm not familiar what legal ramifications could exist if i one day go in and start making the changes. IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO, OR DO I HAVE TO SIT BACK AND WATCH THIS SLOW TRAIN WRECK?

• Answer:

  If you are in Nashville, I'm sure the Metro Police would be very interested to talk with you. This guy has taken money for services he is not providing. You are holding a key piece of evidence. Call and ask to speak to someone who handles fraud cases. Let the police contact those with websites and domain names. It is entirely possible that this guy just got in over his head, but if he is going to leave town, he needs to be stopped before he leaves. Don't get involved in this mess. Let the police handle it.