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Stealing coins, fraud, and malicious destruction! Gala Games' two founders sue each other, GALA drops 70% in a year

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Stealing coins, fraud, and malicious destruction! Gala Games

Youtube creator Jake Browatzke, who specializes in creating blockchain gaming videos, recently revealed on social media that the co-founders of the blockchain gaming platform Gala Games have filed lawsuits against each other, accusing one another of seriously damaging the company's reputation and interests. They are seeking legal action to correct each other's behavior and protect the company's interests. Following this incident, the price of GALA token has continued to decline, dropping by approximately 70% this year.

Founder Dispute at Gala Games: Who is Harming the Company's Interests?

The two founders of Gala Games are Eric Schiermeyer and Write Thurston, established in 2019, with Eric Schiermeyer also being a co-founder of the well-known gaming company Zynga.

In a lawsuit filed by Eric Schiermeyer, he accuses Write Thurston and his investment entity, True North, of the following:

  1. At the beginning of 2021, Thurston or True North allegedly stole 8,645,014,077 GALA tokens from Gala Games, valued at approximately $145 million USD. GALA is the core utility token of the Gala Games ecosystem.
  2. When questioned about this, Thurston claimed he intended to store the GALA in secure wallets for the platform's benefit. However, last year, Thurston or True North began moving the stolen GALA from these wallets and exchanging or selling it through a complex network of transactions. Before Gala Games could stop him, he had successfully exchanged, hidden, or sold GALA worth about $130 million USD.
  3. Thurston also stole the authorization to operate "nodes" in the Gala ecosystem, which generate GALA tokens when operated. Thurston sold the authorization of these stolen nodes to others, keeping the sales proceeds for himself or True North.
  4. Thurston and True North have been sued by individuals who purchased these stolen authorizations, accusing them of fraud.
  5. The SEC also filed a lawsuit earlier this year against Thurston and True North, alleging that Thurston defrauded buyers of "Green Boxes" by falsely claiming they could use them to mine GREEN tokens for energy efficiency and other fraudulent descriptions.
  6. As an incompetent director, Thurston has allegedly received over ten times more in company compensation through theft than the plaintiff.

In light of these events, the plaintiff seeks the return or compensation for the valuable stolen cryptocurrency, demands Thurston to compensate Gala Games for the losses incurred, and seeks to remove him from his directorial position at Gala Games.

In an ironic turn of events, Thurston, who is a defendant in the aforementioned case, has also filed a lawsuit against Schiermeyer, accusing him of the following actions taken without board approval:

  1. Selling and squandering millions of dollars in company assets through BGP, including "destroying" approximately $600 million in GALA and shareholder assets.
  2. Using millions of dollars from BGP funds for Schiermeyer's personal benefit.
  3. Establishing companies in Switzerland and Dubai to secure business opportunities that should have belonged to BGP and positioning himself as a majority shareholder.
  4. Maintaining substantial financial control issues at BGP and providing Thurston with incomplete or inaccurate information.
  5. Refusing to provide company records to Thurston despite repeated requests.
  6. Engaging in systematic, intentional, and deceptive actions detrimental to BGP and its shareholders.

Note: BGP, short for Blockchain Game Partners, is a company co-founded by Eric Schiermeyer and Write Thurston, conducting business under the Gala Games name.

Thurston claims that Schiermeyer's misconduct and mismanagement have caused damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars to BGP's reputation and shareholder assets, and he hopes that the lawsuit will compel Schiermeyer to improve his behavior.

Gala Officially Announces Future Plans, Yet Unable to Drive Price Increase

Regarding the lawsuit between the founders, Gala Games has not responded but has instead announced today the current progress and future development plans of its platforms, seemingly attempting to calm the situation.

Gala Games tweeted that the Gala platform will fully migrate to its self-operated L1 blockchain, "GalaChain," by the end of the year. They will also streamline the entry threshold and development tools, aiming for full self-service to external teams by the end of the year.

However, this news did not boost the sagging price of GALA. According to data from CoinMarketCap here, the price has dropped by 15% in the past week and has plummeted 70% from its peak over the past year, showing a continuous decline.