
Alexandre Dreyfus, the CEO and founder of fan token web site Socios, has been accused of withholding funds with the intention to keep the price of Chiliz (CHZ), the cryptocurrency utilized by the Socios group, in keeping with a report from Off the Pitch.
Fan tokens are tied to real-life sports activities groups, creators, or artists, and provides token holders entry to unique fan golf equipment the place they will vote on choices inside their group. In Socios case, the platform facilities round sports activities, with customers shopping for Chiliz to buy the fan tokens representing numerous groups in soccer, soccer, motorsports, and extra.
As reported by Off the Pitch, Dreyfus allegedly did not pay some of his advisors an agreed-upon share of Chiliz in alternate for endorsing the cryptocurrency. An unknown tech govt instructed Off the Pitch that he solely obtained some portion of what was promised, and claims Dreyfus began avoiding all communications with the advisors in September 2020.
His motive for not paying out advisors? An inside message from Dreyfus considered by Off the Pitch signifies Dreyfus didnt need the worth of Chiliz to tank. We additionally want to guard the buyers, Dreyfus writes within the screenshotted message. When you give free tokens, individuals can promote at any price it does not matter for them. He then went on to notice that the actual buyers who purchased Chiliz could possibly be dropping cash in consequence of advisors promoting off the foreign money.
The tech govt referred Off the Pitch to 3 different advisors who additionally allegedly went unpaid, and obtained affirmation from one of them. Oddly sufficient, that one advisor reached out to Dreyfus as soon as once more the context of their dialog unknown and reported again to Off the Pitch that each one 4 advisors had lastly been paid in full. Its unclear if there are nonetheless different Chiliz advisors that stay unpaid.
We remorse that some advisers which have labored with us up to now weren’t paid in a well timed method and we now have rectified this with them straight and keep good relationships at the moment, a Chiliz spokesperson instructed Off the Pitch. The agreements had been made when the company was pre-start up and at the moment we weren’t in a position to award CHZ straight because it wasnt listed on any exchanges. To be clear, this delay is unacceptable and never the way in which we need to run our enterprise, and falls quick of the requirements to which we maintain ourselves at the moment.
Staff members, who had been additionally speculated to obtain a portion of their wage in Chiliz, werent so fortunate. When the worth of Chiliz skyrocketed, one worker claims they had been unable to money in on the $10 million allegedly owed by Dreyfus. Chiliz later ushered in a brand new contract to exchange those beforehand signed by staff, leading to a smaller allotment of crypto, Off the Pitch experiences. The worker who was owed $10 million supposedly solely made off with round $60,000 in consequence of the brand new settlement. Another employees member was reportedly fired after talking out concerning the subject to the press.
Chiliz responded to Off the Pitchreport in a post on Mediumstating that it doesn’t mirror the reality of the matter.
Update March twelfth 6:05PM ET: Updated so as to add the response from Chiliz.