Creditors of CoinFLEX, a bankrupt exchange, have filed a lawsuit against CEO Mark Lamb and early investor Roger Ver, also known as Bitcoin Jesus. The lawsuit alleges breach of fiduciary duty relating to the launch of a new exchange called OPNX and unauthorized use of company assets. The creditors claim that Lamb acted independently and improperly by appropriating CoinFLEX’s intellectual property, technology, customer base, and employees to establish OPNX. They argue that this action violates Lamb’s obligations to CoinFLEX.
Allegations Against Mark Lamb and OPNX
In a Hong Kong civil court filing, the creditors have characterized OPNX as a “competing business” in relation to CoinFLEX. They argued that Lamb should be prohibited from acting or speaking on CoinFLEX’s behalf. As a result, OPNX, Mark Lamb, and Roger Ver have all been named as co-defendants in the case. The creditors seek to nullify the licensing and purchase agreements related to OPNX and want all assets and profits to be placed into a trust temporarily.
Additionally, the suit accuses Lamb of unauthorized actions when he entered into a settlement agreement with Roger Ver. Roger was initially a prominent investor in CoinFLEX but had a tumultuous relationship with the exchange when they failed to liquidate his position during the Terra-Luna crash. This resulted in Ver incurring an $84 million debt, which ultimately led to the collapse of CoinFLEX. Lamb publicly offered Ver a deal for free trading on OPNX for two years and offered equity to Peter Smith, an associate of Ver, in exchange for acting as a market maker. The arbitration case was settled out of court, but Ver is now a defendant in the new legal case.
Challenges Faced by OPNX
The exchange OPNX, which emerged from GTX, was publicly launched in April 2023 under the leadership of Leslie Lamb, Mark Lamb’s wife. However, the exchange has struggled to gain traction or attention within the crypto community. It has faced limited activity on its platform, a drop in the price of its token, and non-compliance fines by Dubai’s crypto regulator. Furthermore, OPNX is not a licensed virtual asset exchange in Hong Kong. The involvement of Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, co-founders of Three Arrows Capital (3AC), has also contributed to the challenges faced by OPNX. Following the collapse of 3AC, their reputations suffered, impacting the reputation of OPNX as well.
