Bitcoin mining firm BitFury is being sued by its former chief financial officer (CFO), according to court documents obtained by CoinDesk.
First filed in April in the Superior Court of California County of San Francisco, former BitFury CFO Mikhail Golomb is alleging he was terminated improperly by BitFury so that the company could avoid awarding him 2% of the business in equity compensation.
Court documents suggest BitFury is currently valued in excess of $500m, meaning the shares are potentially worth $10m.
Further, Golomb asserts that he was denied bonuses, contractual severance and payment for unused vacation time. The former CFO, who earned $240,000 in the position, is seeking a jury trial to obtain damages of up to $10,000 and attorney’s fees as a result of the alleged breach of contract and violations to California Labor Code.
”Throughout his employment with defendants, plaintiff demanded defendants comply with the Employment Contract and make the required grant of equity to the plaintiff. Defendants terminated plaintiff’s employment in retaliation therefore in order to avoid their obligations to plaintiff under the Employment contract.”
During his time, Golomb served on BitFury’s board of directors and was head of its San Francisco office, according to court documents.
BitFury, however, maintains that Golomb’s tenure was not satisfactory, asserting that he was terminated for “abusive conduct towards employees” and “fraudulent conduct”. Golomb is notably embroiled in a separate divorce lawsuit in which the terms of his compensation at the company are of issue, according to a filing by BitFury.
BitFury has since moved to demur the lawsuit through a series of filings by its law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP dating back to June.
“As a company, we intend to fight this case vigorously. We think it without merit,” BitFury legal counsel Varun Gupta told CoinDesk.
Since June, BitFury has also moved to strike portions of the complaint and push for discovery to be limited due to the fact it could lead to “confidential, proprietary or private information” being disclosed. In addition, it has argued that certain stipulations, such as the disclosure of all company communications with Golomb present an undue burden.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for 9:30am on 30th December.
Businessman with contract image via Shutterstock
Source : http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-mining-giant-bitfury-is-being-sued-by-its-former-cfo/
