I don't know what this is, but as the guy asked for money for the domains, which he didn't own, I'd think about asking the police to look into this being extortion.
The ownership is in question. This guy bought the domain in its early days and "donated" it to the project. Does he own it? What if he paid for its continued registration? Does CM own it under trademark? Given the nature of how CM got started, I doubt there was a formal agreement between the parties.
I think he did/does own the domain, on behalf of cm. My best guess is that cm wasn't incorporated, so a human body had to own it. The human body then went full asshat.