Tezos Founders Enter Legal Battle for Control of $400m in Raised ICO Funds

[deadsilent]

Tezos Founders Enter Legal Battle for Control of $400m in Raised ICO Funds


Founded by husband and wife, Kathleen and Arthur Breitman, Tezos is a decentralized platform that hosts smart contracts that seeks to compete with ethereum. Tezos’ initial coin offering (ICO) did not have a cap on investment and raised approximately $232 million – at the time comprising the largest ICO crowdsale to date. The 65,703 bitcoins (BTC) and 361,122 ETH raised by the company is now worth more than $400 million USD.

The Breitmans Are Reported to Be Attempting to Attain Greater Control Over Tezos’ Finances
The Breitmans Are Reported to Be Attempting to Attain Greater Control Over Tezos' FinancesThe Breitman couple has become embroiled in a legal dispute with Johan Gevers – the president of a Swiss foundation that was set up by the Breitman’s and an independent body that would manage the funds raised through the ICO. Both parties accuse one another of having a conflict of interest which render them unsuitable for managing the funds. It has been reported that the Breitmans are now seeking to create a new foundation, which, if they are successful, will allow the Breitmans to exercise greater control over the management of Tezos’ funds.

Reuters has reported that an attorney representing the Breitmans sent a letter to the two other members of Tezos’ board threatening that if Gevers is not removed from his position then the Breitmans will then remove their support for the project. The letter accuses Geevers of “self-dealing, self-promotion and conflicts of interest.” According to Reuters, Geevers has been asked to “step aside for a month” while the board investigates the matter further. Gevers described the Breitmans’ actions as “attempted character assassination,” and referred to the accusations laid against him as “a long laundry list of misleading statements and outright lies.” https://news.bitcoin.com/tezos-founders-enter-legal-battle-for-control-of-400m-in-raised-funds/

What do you think about this guys?

[AshCoins]

Well it's not comforting but it's also not the big deal the media is making it out to be.  There are always legal battles when this much money is involved and the main net release has only been pushed back 4-5 months.

[ranga71]

It sounds like the Breitmans probably didn't read their contract with the foundation well enough and are now realizing they don't have as much freedom with the money as they'd like. If the foundation wins the lawsuit, that could certainly be problematic for Tezos.

[XbladeX]

It sounds like the Breitmans probably didn't read their contract with the foundation well enough and are now realizing they don't have as much freedom with the money as they'd like. If the foundation wins the lawsuit, that could certainly be problematic for Tezos.

Why that would be so problematic since more control this is overall better for end cutomer not getting rekt to easy by blowing away money on boats vacation etc.
Fundation wacthing what they are doing is good thing to me guys.

[Johnnywelsh]

Sounds like a great time to invest in Tezos if you ever wanted to get on board (not that I've ever had much interest in them)

[XbladeX]

Sounds like a great time to invest in Tezos if you ever wanted to get on board (not that I've ever had much interest in them)

Probaly this is best conclusion off all, buy on FUD sell after dusts is settle because no one really gives a fuck who  holds money at end when price is rising.

[somacoin]

Founded by husband and wife

Frankly, the above alone sounds really dangerous. It made me think twice and more before I invested. But I like(d) the idea of Tezos

To comment on what's happening now: this is not funny at all and pretty damn shocking. A legal battle between the founders and Johann Gevers, "head of the Swiss foundation they installed"? So Johann Gevers is this dude http://johanngevers.com/projects/ Make up your own mind about that man.

I believe that this is not good at all for everybody involved because a lot of energy will be wasted on a fight rather than be spent on the project. It could even result in serious depression of the Breitmans and the other Tezos devs/helpers/advisors and even the community.

As an investor I am beyond disappointed and even angry. They sit/sat on such an extreme amount of money but fail to deliver on time. I had already thought that something is not quite right because of the lack of updates on their website. For a project that has attracted this amount of money this really is a big fail.

Well, while typing this I can't help but think that such a huge amount of money is utterly dangerous indeed. Things like this is why we increasingly have ICO regulation by government worldwides, seems rightly so.

I can only hope that I will not have to pay my lawyer to try and get my investment back in the end, this would suck big time.

Sounds like a great time to invest in Tezos if you ever wanted to get on board (not that I've ever had much interest in them)

You can't. There is only a scammy IOU market (“i owe you”) for XTZ and the real XTZ has not been released. Will it ever be released and become reality? I  hope so. Whatever happens, this odd fight [if it's true what I'm reading in the media, that is], sadly, will remain in the "history books"...

People at Tezos, please get your things right. Solve and overcome this dispute as soon as you can. There are a lot of people watching you who expect everything to be as initially advertised.

[chesthing]

Sounds like a great time to invest in Tezos if you ever wanted to get on board (not that I've ever had much interest in them)

The tezzies aren't released yet, you can't invest in Tezos now.
What I am baffled by is the foundation supposedly hasn't released money for development. The development is what the money is for so this makes no sense. Gevers has said he is one of the largest ico buyers, so again this makes no sense. Unless the Breitmans have just been trying to take money for yachts and beach homes, Gevers actions make so sense at all.

[HansWermhat]

Just so many red flags, I wouldn't touch this with a 50 foot pole. With that amount of capital, they should have hundreds of full time developers on staff.

[torrantz]

Just so many red flags, I wouldn't touch this with a 50 foot pole. With that amount of capital, they should have hundreds of full time developers on staff.

I have been warned so many people about the tezos, but that looks strange to see the husband and wife control around 400 millions dollar. The advisory board of the tezos succeed to build the momentum to raise a lot of interest.

[Dullmartini]

Sounds like a great time to invest in Tezos if you ever wanted to get on board (not that I've ever had much interest in them)

In this case, it’s actually a very bad time to invest in Tezos. Do you have any idea how much a lawsuit costs? Lawyers bill out at $600+ an hour. Who do you think will pay for this? That’s right, the investors. The only people who will end up in the black after this thing are the lawyers, not investors, not Tezos, not the foundation, not the Breitmans

Also, lawsuits are incredibly stressful and time consuming. I would be surprised if the Breitmans were still married after this whole thing ends.

[Johnnywelsh]

Sounds like a great time to invest in Tezos if you ever wanted to get on board (not that I've ever had much interest in them)

In this case, it’s actually a very bad time to invest in Tezos. Do you have any idea how much a lawsuit costs? Lawyers bill out at $600+ an hour. Who do you think will pay for this? That’s right, the investors. The only people who will end up in the black after this thing are the lawyers, not investors, not Tezos, not the foundation, not the Breitmans

Also, lawsuits are incredibly stressful and time consuming. I would be surprised if the Breitmans were still married after this whole thing ends.

And you think that the price won't adjust to reflect that? lol

This isn't bitcointalk only news, the news would have reached those invested and price would fall as a result. But anyway as someone else said it seems the tokens ain't even released yet so doesn't matter either way.

[shursight]

I dont understand how the fuck did they raised so much money, more than 3 hundred million dollars it is incredible, why do people invest such that amount of money? there are to many projects that diserve at least some millions and they are not even being succesfull because they dont have a good marketing.
But i understand it, it is all about marketing and the promotion that it receives, but of course that 400 million dollars is a huge amount.

[European Central Bank]

uh, where is the smart contract that 'invalidates' stuff like this? i thought legal battles were the past and ecr20 the future or whatever.

well, guess not.

[Spoetnik]

Hilarious 

ICO = Scam ..that is what i think of this.

[masterfulcrypto]

It sounds like there's going to be one huge dump on this one. What a shame!

[onyebuchi81]

No doubt the coin is stuck at ground zero.just feeling for the investors that parted ways with their hard bills to a shit project. Hope they resolve it soon and concentrate on the development of the project for the sake of the investors

[jyakulis]

i hate these ico's

[Dullmartini]

Sounds like a great time to invest in Tezos if you ever wanted to get on board (not that I've ever had much interest in them)

In this case, it’s actually a very bad time to invest in Tezos. Do you have any idea how much a lawsuit costs? Lawyers bill out at $600+ an hour. Who do you think will pay for this? That’s right, the investors. The only people who will end up in the black after this thing are the lawyers, not investors, not Tezos, not the foundation, not the Breitmans

Also, lawsuits are incredibly stressful and time consuming. I would be surprised if the Breitmans were still married after this whole thing ends.

And you think that the price won't adjust to reflect that? lol

This isn't bitcointalk only news, the news would have reached those invested and price would fall as a result. But anyway as someone else said it seems the tokens ain't even released yet so doesn't matter either way.

I think the price has adjusted to reflect that. What I’m saying is I think it will never recover and the project will never take off, unless someone else leads it.

[ticterine]

Wow another ICO has controversy surrounding finances?