Last week, claims surfaced on Reddit that SafeMoon CEO John Karony was set to sue his own mother after she sought to sever ties between him and her company due to his “reckless actions” regarding SafeMoon. These apparently included poor communications, a trail of broken promises, and incidents of alleged blockchain theft.
It’s no surprise that things have come to this, given that SafeMoon has endured a number of controversies since its 2021 inception. And the current legal wranglings between Karony and his mother are far from straightforward.
According to last week’s reports, Karony’s mother is currently battling the company she turned to when she needed help to fund Emanations Communications Group (ECG), her Gambia-based antenna firm.
She’d previously accepted a $5 million investment from her son (money that allegedly came from SafeMoon’s liquidity pool — more on that later) but subsequently tried to distance herself from him when his behavior and reputation began to reflect badly on her business.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Fz-UF3wbA?feature=oembed
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The $1 million loan she accepted from investment firm Lex Vest included certain conditions that were breached when Karony started legal proceedings against his mother and, as such, the company took control of ECG, its assets, and IPs. Karony has reportedly filed as a movant in the case.
But amazingly, the inter-family aspect is far from the most interesting thing to come out of a case that’s barely two months old. Below are just a few of the most “WTF” allegations from the publicly-available court documents.
When under the spotlight, John Karony bribed his way out of Gambia
When Karony’s business practices and unethical conduct were called into question by Gambian anti-corruption officials, he decided he wanted out of the country by any means possible. So, according to court papers, he took a car belonging to Gambian ambassador His Excellency Sankung Jawara and “bribed his way across borders instead of filing proper paperwork and leaving in accordance with international law and regulations.”
Karony just abandoned his plan for giant ‘lubed-up’ wind turbines
ECG Energy was created specifically for a project to be helmed by one of Karony’s shell companies, Ronin Energy. Karony was all set to revolutionize wind turbines by using nanoparticles to streamline airflow over the blades — some described it as a sort of lube for wind turbines.
However, despite Karony’s big talk about how his lubed-up turbines were the way of the future and his continued use of buzzwords like “evolution” and “efficiency,” he never actually provided ECG with a budget or business plan. Instead, he just let the project peter out and walked away in January this year.
Karony took pictures of ECG’s labs so that he could claim that he owned them
According to court documents, John started to demand receipts related to ECG’s technology expenses so that he could take to social media and talk up the tech being developed using his investment. This was despite ECG requesting he not do this.
But he didn’t stop there. ECG alleges that Karony badgered the firm for greater access to company records not because he was interested in its financial dealings but because he wanted to take pictures of its labs to back up his claims on social media that he owned them.
Court documents claim Karony dipped into the SafeMoon liquidity pool
ECG claims that Karony handed it $5 million just a few months after joining SafeMoon. This, according to last week’s reports, means that he either earned a hell of a salary or was dipping into the SafeMoon liquidity pool. Incidentally, this was supposedly locked for four years.
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John Karony used ECG’s coffers like his personal piggy bank
After making his initial investment, it’s claimed that Karony demanded money from ECG to pay his personal bills. According to the court filing, “During certain times after making his investment, John demanded payment of utilities and other personal expenses to be imposed on ECG funds to satisfy his outstanding personal bills in the amount in excess of $50,000.”
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H/T: TNGSystems.