The founder of the Pennsylvania blockchain forensics firm CipherBlade, Richard Sanders, has claimed that a group of employees executed a “hostile takeover” while he was volunteering in war-torn Ukraine. This surprising turn of events has left the company’s internal operations compromised and has caused significant damage to the business.
According to the filed complaint, the employees took advantage of Sanders’ absence to seize control of company assets and sensitive data. They even went so far as to steal the CipherBlade domain, social media accounts, and other company property. The founder expressed his disappointment in the actions of these individuals, whom he had entrusted with the company’s assets and responsibilities.
During Sanders’ absence, the company’s clients and some staff were moved to new CipherBlade entities in Alaska and Singapore, effectively leaving his business empty. These actions were meticulously planned by the defendants, knowing that Sanders would be extremely busy in Ukraine and would either be unable to react or faced with the difficult choice between saving lives or preventing additional theft.
