New Kraken Lawsuit Alleges They Both Operated In New York, Avoided Paying Former Employee To Hide Activity

New Lawsuit Alleges That Kraken Both Operated In New York State And Avoided Paying Former Employee To Hide Activity

When it comes to the cryptocurrency industry, especially considering how new it is, keeping promises is necessary. Building trust in the platform, whether it is for an investor or an employee, is the only way to keep it moving along in the long run. However, certain promises appear to have recently been broken after an agreement was struck between Jonthan Silverman and Kraken, also known as Payward, Inc. In a report by The Block, regarding Silverman v. Payward Inc., there are allegations that Kraken has not paid the plaintiff the $907,631 that he is owed.

The allegations are fairly substantial, as Silverman starts his tale by describing his work with Kraken. He states that he was hired to run the Institutional Sales and Trading Business, and that part of the agreement was to “relocate the business to New York.” The alleged employment agreement stated that the plaintiff would receive a $150,000 base salary, though he would also have a stock option plan. Court documents from the plaintiff indicate that Kraken CEO Jesse Powell and the plaintiff spoke and agreed on the latter receiving 10% of the trading desk’s annual profits. However, the revenue would not be paid out until the end of the year. All of these conversations appeared to occur around the hire data in April 2017.

Moving forward to December, Silverman was terminated by Kraken, due to the illusion that Kraken was attempting to give the public that they do not have any business in the State of New York, according to the plaintiff. From the date of termination until July 2018, negotiations apparently continued for a settlement to compensate the plaintiff for the termination. At the end of these negotiations, both parties allegedly agreed to a payment of $907,631. The reason for the lawsuit is because the plaintiff alleges that the money was never paid to him.

The money is not the only retribution that Silverman is seeking right now. Along with the settlement, the plaintiff also is seeking damages, based on the commission that he would have made. Another lawsuit against Kraken in the Southern District of New York indicates that the annual profit might be about $19 million. The damages would be a collective amount as a result of a breach of the oral contract, quantum merit, and the fact that the plaintiff caused Kraken to benefit at their own expense.

The lawsuit is still in the beginning stages at this point, so it is important to remember that these allegations have yet to be proven. There has been no response from Kraken yet, but the plaintiff stands to be paid out a substantially higher amount than if Kraken had paid the alleged promised amount in the first place if everything turns out to be true.