Recent allegations of token theft, counterclaims of mismanagement, and legal tit-for-tat have made the founders of Gala Games, a well-known GameFi Web3 startup, the focus of intense scrutiny. After being co-founded by Eric Schiermeyer and Wright Thurston in 2019, the company now finds itself in murky waters, marred by legal complications.
Schiermeyer, the CEO of Gala Games, has accused Wright Thurston, his co-founding partner, in a suit of stealing 8.6 billion GALA tokens. The amount in contention is a buoyant $130 million, with the alleged theft transpiring in early 2021. The CEO added fuel to the fire, hinting at Thurston’s notorious track record of launching firms that meet their end either in insolvency, bankruptcy, or litigation.
Undeterred by the claims, Thurston threw his hat in the legal ring and filed a counter lawsuit. He has accused Schiermeyer of commandeering the company for personal gains, exploitative practices that include financing a personal jet.
The CEO, in his original suit, contends that the alleged token theft did much more than skim the company coffers; it monopolized Gala Games into acquiescence. An expose of the theft had the potential to devastate the entire GALA ecosystem. To navigate this predicament, Gala Games reluctantly issued Gala v2 tokens to circumvent the damage in May 2023. These tokens were ostensibly contrived to render Thurston’s GALA tokens useless while preserving the larger ecosystem.
Thurston’s suit, in contrast, accuses Schiermeyer of engaging in business practices that marred both the reputation and the assets of Gala Games. He asserts the self-interest of his business partner has wielded damage to the tune of “hundreds of millions of dollars”. Thurston himself is no stranger to legal issues with a prior lawsuit from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over a falsely advertised “green” crypto project.
The ensuing lawsuits have resulted in the GALA token experiencing a price drop, shedding some 18% in just the past week and a radically larger 31% over the past month. The ongoing issue has triggered worried rhetorics among analysts, with many questioning whether the GALA token value could potentially plummet to zero. Currently ranked 85 by market capitalization, the token is receding in ranks as the worst performer among the top 100 tokens in the past week, as per CoinGecko’s ranking.
Source: Cryptonews
