Fishman v. Grebnev was filed at London’s High Court back in November of 2022.
Alex Grebnev, CEO of the Maps.me (MAPs) and Oxygen (OXY) digital currency projects closely linked to Sam Bankman-Fried’s failed FTX Trading Ltd empire, is being sued by Gregory Fishman, reportedly an owner of cryptocurrency news site CoinTelegraph on states of fund misappropriation.
The little-noticed case, Fishman v. Grebnev, was 1st filed with the commercial division of London’s High Court back in November of 2022 and last updated on May 22. The case concerns states of misappropriated funds and the theft of ideas relating to Grebnev’s unfinished cryptocurrency projects, reports by a individual familiar with the matter. The MAPs and OXY crypto token projects, heavily backed by Alameda Research and Sam Bankman-Fried, have become part of a group known colloquially as “Samcoins.”
“Fishman alleges Grebnev misappropriated funds backing certain cryptocurrency projects. Additionally, Fishman states Grebnev entered into a business relationship with him and then terminated it upon Sam Bankman-Fried offering Grebnev funds. Fishman contends that Grebnev stole his ideas,” the individual informed CoinDesk.
In January 2021, Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research led a $50 Million financing into crypto-based Google Maps alternative Maps.me, and a 30 days thereafter it led a $40 Million financing round in decentralized finance (DeFi) broker Oxygen with the hope of integrating Oxygen into Maps.me. CMS, Multicoin and Genesis, a subsidiary of CoinDesk parent company Digital currency Group, likewise participated in the fund raise.
Fishman and Grebnev did not respond to requests for comment.
Russian-born Grebnev, a Cambridge University educated math whiz, worked at Goldman Sachs Group before getting involved with cryptocurrency start-ups in 2018.
Fishman is informed to have joined investor Gerard Lopez at the helm of London-based cryptocurrency financing company Lydian Group, whose portfolio of corporations includes CoinTelegraph, CrossTower and Bequant.
Nikhilesh De.
