In a revelation brought to light by an account on X (formerly Twitter) under the name “CoinFLEX Real,” allegations have emerged indicating that the founder of CoinFLEX, a derivatives exchange based in Hong Kong, along with their partners at Three Arrows Capital (3AC), have allegedly engaged in the misappropriation of creditor assets for personal gain.
Mark Lamb, the founder of CoinFLEX, along with Zhusu and Kyle Davies of 3AC, stand accused of utilizing funds entrusted to them as their personal “piggy bank.”
CoinFLEX Founder Accused Of Manipulation
CoinFLEX suffered significant losses, amounting to $160 million, leading to its collapse in June 2022, triggered by a negative balance from one of its customers, Roger Ver. Subsequently, a group of creditors developed a restructuring proposal to revive the exchange.
In September 2022, CoinFLEX’s leadership presented a restructuring plan that granted creditors a majority stake and control of the board. The company retained $10 million to finance litigation against Roger Ver and facilitate a reboot.
However, in January 2023, Mark Lamb suddenly established a separate exchange called OPNX, seemingly unrelated to CoinFLEX. Despite this, the exchange’s funds supported OPNX’s operations.
Mark allegedly misled regulators by presenting OPNX as part of CoinFLEX and manipulated FLEX tokens for “personal benefit.” The new venture heavily relied on CoinFLEX’s technology, funds, staff, and the FLEX token.
CoinFLEX’s website even encouraged users to migrate to OPNX despite the lack of authorization to develop this new business, which contradicted the terms of the restructuring order pending approval by the Seychelles courts.
Over the following six months, CoinFLEX stakeholders received minimal information from Mark Lamb, Kyle Davies, and Su regarding the status of remaining funds and spending.
According to the allegations, proper reporting for creditors was never completed, keeping them “in the dark” and impeding their ability to take action. Furthermore, allegations have emerged that the founders intentionally manipulated the token’s price.
Employees were allegedly instructed to freeze account withdrawals for users with substantial FLEX balances, preventing them from cashing out. FLEX and OX assets were frozen on-chain to boost the token price artificially. Influencers were allegedly paid with creditor assets to promote OX.
Additionally, the founders reportedly used the proceeds from the sale of creditor assets to inflate the same tokens they had previously sold over-the-counter (OTC)
Controversial Settlement
According to CoinFLEX Real’s allegations, requests for information in the company were ignored, and any employee communicating with the creditor group was promptly terminated.
It wasn’t until August 2023 that a board was finally formed, but Mark Lamb allegedly refused to attend most board meetings, providing little meaningful information.
Exploiting the absence of a clear structure, Mark demanded additional funds from creditors to cover legal expenses and personal costs related to his support of arbitration.
Mark allegedly met secretly with Roger Ver to settle an $84 million lawsuit over the advice of arbitration lawyers who believed CoinFLEX had a strong case. Notably, as the truth began to unravel, it appeared that Mark, Kyle, and Su planned to shut down CoinFLEX to destroy evidence and conceal their misdeeds.
Two weeks ago, evidence of the scale of wrongdoing was uncovered when investigators entered CoinFLEX’s Hong Kong office. Staff members were allegedly cut off from systems to obstruct access to crucial evidence. Given these alleged developments, the X account under the pseudonym “CoinFLEX Real” concluded:
These grifters cannot remain unpunished and continue to infect our space. We owe a duty to protect the crypto community and its reputation. We have the evidence to pursue justice and ask for the support of the community to make it happen.
Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com