Gala Games founders biff over $130M theft, corporate waste allegations

The co-founders of blockchain gaming platform Gala Games have locked horns in court over two separate lawsuits, one alleging the theft of $130 million worth of Gala (GALA) and the other, alleging corporate waste.

On Aug. 31 Gala co-founders Wright Thurston and Eric Schiermeyer, also the firm’s CEO, filed lawsuits against one another in a Utah District Court.

On behalf of Gala, Schiermeyer alleged that in early 2021 Thurston and his investment firm True North United Investments stole around $130 million worth of GALA — a token tied to the Gala Games ecosystem.

Schiermeyer’s suit claims GALA tokens were moved to a wallet under the company’s control but were later moved into 43 other wallets by Thurston who, when confronted about the movements, said he was holding the tokens in secure wallets for Gala.

He later moved the tokens from the wallets and exchanged or sold them in a “complex web of obfuscatory transactions” between September 2022 and May 2023, the suit alleged.

The suit claimed Thurston later feined knowledge of the alleged token sales but now claims the sold GALA belonged to him — which Schiermeyer’s suit rejected.

Thurston is also alleged to have stolen licenses to run Gala ecosystem nodes which can earn GALA tokens — selling the licenses and keeping the proceeds.

The same day, Thurston’s True North filed a lawsuit against Schiermeyer — similarly on behalf of Gala — claiming he caused Gala to “sell off and waste millions of dollars in company assets” and lent millions of Gala’s funds to himself for personal purchases.

Schiermeyer also allegedly created Gala entities in Switzerland and Dubai and made himself the controlling shareholder to pursue business opportunities, according to the lawsuit.

True North claims Schiermeyer operated Gala without input from Thurston — a Gala director — and gave incomplete or incorrect information and corporate records to Thurston “despite repeated requests.”

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Schiermeyer’s suit requested Thurston be removed as a Gala director and seeks various relief and damages payments including the return of the allegedly stolen GALA.

Thurston similarly requested that Schiermeyer be removed from Gala and sought at least $750 million in various damages and relief.

In March, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission sued Thurston, True North and another company he founded called Green United for selling investments in an allegedly fake crypto mining scheme.

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