If a site gets banned does its content get banned also? I want to buy a site that was banned from AdSense. I don't want to use the site, I'm just going to 301 redirect the domain to my live site and use some of the content from the site that was banned. Am I putting my account in jeopardy?
Sites don't get banned from Adsense. The publisher does. Does the site still show up in Google's index? If so, then it hasn't been banned from the SE, and that's all that matters. Go ahead and buy it and re-direct it.
Some people say if you are associated with a banned site you may get banned as well. Why don't you ask Google and tell us what happened?
Michael has posted a great article. You should read it: http://www.wolf-howl.com/seo/is-my-website-banned-in-google/
Well, it seems that Google doesnt like to answer on these questions. They are pretty good usually, and answer pretty fast, but recently I emailed them and ask if i could buy a site banned from Adsense, and they have never answered.
That response is a bit like saying "I think I'm absolutely certain".... My guess is that the crawlers invesigate the site the ads are on, not the address of the re-direct site. If that is indeed the case I'd assume you'd be ok.