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Check the site's twitter and the whois. The domain didn't expire. It was on autorenew and, in any case, has an April expiration, so that explanation makes no sense.

Btw, I do completely sympathize with the situation itself, it sucks.

But name-calling the new owner of the domain, who almost definitely acquired it legally, and is the only person able to make the decision to return it, does not seem very smart.

The domain was not due to expire and according to their Twitter feed, they have auto-renew enabled as well. It was stolen/hijacked.