Former ConsenSys employees file for audit claiming 'serious irregularities'
A group claiming to represent 35 former ConsenSys AG (CAG) employees has requested an audit under the Swiss Code of Obligations to investigate “serious irregularities” they allege occurred at the company during mid-2020.
CAG, also known as Mesh, is the company behind top Ethereum-based wallet provider MetaMask and was founded by Joseph Lubin, who is also the co-founder of Ethereum.
According to a press release, the group of employees who claim to represent around 50% of all known shareholders submitted the request to a Swiss Court on March 1.
The group alleged that “fundamental intellectual property and subsidiaries were illegally transferred” from CosenSys AG (which it refers to as CAG) into a new entity called “ConsenSys Software Incorporated” (CSI) on Aug. 14, 2020.
The former employees also assert that they and other minority shareholders had no idea that the IP transfer had taken place, and claim that the deal was only conducted to benefit major shareholders and Lubin:
The Washington-based company hit back in a statement suggesting the release was the work of one employee.
According to the claims, the deal saw IP and subsidiaries transferred to “ConsenSys Software Incorporated (CSI), in exchange for 10% ownership of CSI and an offset of a $39 million loan by founder Joseph Lubin.”
The deal was said to have resulted in top traditional financial institutions such as JP Morgan Chase acquiring stakes in MetaMask and Ethereum developer platform Ifura, while the intellectual property was used as a key drawcard to raise funding for CSI at a $3 billion valuation in 2021.
ConsenSys said the property transfer was valued fairly at the time, and that the landscape had changed dramatically since mid 2020 which is why the assets
Read more on cointelegraph.com
