Gala Games, the Web3 gaming startup behind mobile RPG Champions Arena and other ventures, was founded in 2019 and has grown steadily.
Since then, a falling out has occurred between co-founders Wright Thurston and Eric Schiermeyer. Each controlled 50% of the company, and they are now fighting to remove the other from the board of directors.
Schiermeyer accuses Thurston of the theft of company assets, while Thurston alleges Schiermeyer “sold off and wasted” millions of dollars of firm assets and misappropriated others – a move many would simply call theft with extra steps.
Tokens for Ammo
In the lawsuit filed by Schiermeyer on behalf of Gala Games, Thurston is accused of using his investment firm True North United Investments to move approximately $130 million worth of GALA tokens out of company wallets.
Originally, the funds were moved to a company wallet but were shortly after transferred across 43 other wallets belonging to Thurston and his investment company. These tokens were then allegedly sold between September 2022 and May 2023. Some of the proceeds of the sales were reportedly used to purchase ammunition. The fate of the rest is unknown.
“Thurston first responded that he was selling some of the GALA tokens in order to purchase ammunition for firearms. Then he stopped responding.”
The lawsuit also claims that these tokens amounted to more than the total supply of tokens then in circulation.
These events could be related to the May 2023 launch of GALA v2, whose real purpose may have been to deprecate any remaining stolen assets. However, this is unconfirmed.
Thurston Fires Back
Schiermeyer’s lawsuit received another one in response, in which Thurston claimed that his co-CEO damaged Gala Games reputation – and checkbook – to the tune of millions of dollars. Schiermeyers’ alleged misuse of company funds includes an installment payment towards a private jet.
“Schiermeyer’s malfeasance, mismanagement, and self-dealing have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to [Gala]’s reputation and company and shareholder assets. [The use] Caused BGP to pay $5 million towards an installment purchase of a corporate jet for Schiermeyer’s personal benefit despite the BGP board previously agreeing to sell the jet/BGP’s position.”
BGP, or Blockchain Game Partners, is the name of the company controlling Gala Games.
Thurston – although admitting that he would sometimes be unreachable for months – also accused Schiermeyer of running the company without input from him, leading to unfortunate consequences.
Thurston is also currently embroiled in another legal battle with the SEC with regards to one more company of his, Green United LLC, over its GREEN token – which the agency claims possibly does not exist at all. The defendants singled out in the lawsuit are the company itself, Thurston, and Kristoffer A. Krohn, a “recidivist salesperson.”
At the time, the defendants moved to dismiss the lawsuit claiming that the SEC had no jurisdiction over digital assets.
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