Bella Hadid NFT co-founder says his partner has ‘gone rogue’

The co-founder of the startup behind last year’s Bella Hadid-themed NFT collection is suing his business partner for $77 million, accusing him of having “gone rogue,” stealing millions in crypto and taking control of the company.

Krzysztof Gagacki, the co-founder of online NFT game Rebase, alleged that Edmond Truong stole about $2 million in crypto in October from a wallet they both controlled, according to a 22-page document filed with a U.S. court this week. Truong has also allegedly excluded Gagacki from the company’s operations, including starting talks to issue Rebase’s planned token on the Arbitrum blockchain without his co-founder’s knowledge. 

Truong “has ousted Mr. Gagacki from their joint venture and is now holding himself out to third parties as the sole owner and decisionmaker for the Rebase app,” the filing alleges. 

Gagacki estimates that Rebase is worth more than $150 million and is seeking damages of at least $77 million, plus interest. 

Responding to an email sent to its support address, Rebase said, “The news is not true and contains misinformation that is spreading in the market.” It wasn’t clear who had responded to the request for comment. When pressed on which part of the legal filing was untrue, Rebase didn’t immediately reply. 

Truong didn’t respond to a LinkedIn message seeking comment.  

The conflict among the co-founders is the latest in a young industry being led generally by younger executives with little professional experience who find themselves at odds. Umami Labs is in the midst of an internal battle and former FTX U.S. President Brett Harrison resigned last year in part as a result of a “protracted disagreement” with Chief Executive Officer Sam Bankman-Fried.

Bella Hadid NFT project

Hadid launched a collection of 11,111 NFTs last year. Known as CY-B3LLA, the collection featured artwork based on 3-D scans of the U.S. supermodel’s face and body. The projects currently appears dormant, with its website URL dead and its Twitter account unused since October. 

Hadid received about $1.5 million for her involvement in the project, according to this week’s court filing. 

The case is number 2:23-cv-02876 in the U.S District Court for the Central District of California. 

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