Since Mudcat is an organization, not a group, whether Max set this up or someone who hopes Max wants to expand to this site and wants to charge him for the privilege, it's a legitimate transaction.
The same kind of thing used to happen where the speculators would register the names of famous people then try to gouge them to get their own domain name if they set up a fan site. The courts don't allow that, it's a form of gouging.