Legal fight emerges between ConsenSys, former venture partner over fund proceeds

A legal fight has emerged between the Ethereum-focused company ConsenSys and a former venture executive.

The spat, first detailed by Business Insider on Thursday, broke into the open with a December 31 filing from Kavita Gupta, formerly founding managing partner for ConsenSys’s venture fund. In that filing, Gupta alleged that ConsenSys owes her a portion of the money generated by that fund, stating that the fund’s value has grown to more than $300 million since inception. Per Business Insider, ConsenSys has allegedly offered a fraction of the amount she seeks.

ConsenSys, in turn, unveiled a series of allegations in a 29-page court filing on January 10, alleging that Gupta engaged in resume fraud by lying about her professional credentials and then provided fabricated materials when her resume was called into question.

The filing also claimed that Gupta’s “toxic and abusive personality” resulted in a loss of employees and investment opportunities as well as “reputational harm.”

Per the filing, ConsenSys is now accusing Gupta of trying to “shake down” the company for “millions of dollars that she has no entitlement to by making false claims and unlawful threats.”

“ConsenSys seeks a declaratory judgment that Gupta is not entitled to any equity or other compensation from ConsenSys GP or the Fund,” the firm said in its filing.

Gupta, who according to Business Insider, is being represented by attorney Peter Cane. In an interview with The Block, Cane said that “Joe Lubin was praising Kavita well after she decided to leave Consensys and assured her in writing that she would be paid her carried interest well after she decided to leave ConsenSys.”

When asked about the allegations made by ConsenSys in its court filing from January 10, Cane said that “we look forward to the truth coming out.”

“There were definitely serious workplace concerns at ConsenSys, but they weren’t Kavita Gupta’s doing,” he continued. “She was a victim of them rather than a perpetrator.”

A request for comment sent to ConsenSys was not immediately returned. In a statement to Business Insider, a company representative said: “This is an ongoing legal matter and consistent with our practices, we will let ou formal filings and the result of litigation speak for themselves.”

As reported last September, Gupta announced at the time the close of a $50 million fund focused on the crypto space, for which she serves as founding managing partner.