‘He broke his word’ — Ex-ConsenSys staff sue founder over employee equity deal

Over two dozen former employees of Ethereum infrastructure firm ConsenSys have filed a fresh lawsuit against the firm’s founder and CEO, Joseph Lubin, over claims he diluted employee equity shares against earlier promises.

The former staff allege that Lubin — who is also a co-founder of Ethereum — breached this “no-dilution promise” made in 2015,

“[The] plaintiffs now believe their meritless claims stand a better chance of yielding a pay day if they game U.S. courts and entangle ConsenSys Software and other unrelated parties in litigation.” The ConsenSys representative added:

“We fully expect that the plaintiffs, who were never employees of Consensys Software, will soon find this gambit is another fruitless attempt to enrich themselves from the success of others.”

Despite claims that the plaintiff’s legal challenge went “nowhere” in Switzerland, the country’s High Court of Zug issued a judgment in favor of the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs say the ruling supports their position that Lubin breached his duties.

ConsenSys was founded in October 2014, about nine months before the Ethereum blockchain launched in mid-2015.

The firm develops and hosts infrastructure projects that underpins much of the Ethereum network.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages across six separate causes of action, in an amount to be determined at trial.

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