Ondo Finance hit by corporate control fight as founder’s mother seeks to oust CEO

Three Delaware court filings reveal a battle for control of Ondo Finance after founder Nathan Allman's death.

Ondo Finance hit by corporate control fight as founder’s mother seeks to oust CEO

Policy

Power struggle erupts at Ondo Finance after founder’s death

Three Delaware court filings reveal a battle for control of Ondo Finance after founder Nathan Allman's death.

By

Will Canny

,

AI Boost

|

Edited by

Nikhilesh De

Aug 6, 2026, 9:59 p.m.

3

min read

Make

preferred on

Share

Share this article

Copy link

X icon

X (Twitter)

LinkedIn

Facebook

Email

Make

preferred on

Nathan Allman sits on a panel at Consensus 2025

Summary

Show

Founder Nathan Allman's estate alleges former President Ian De Bode unlawfully seized control of Ondo Finance after the founder's death.

The lawsuit asks a Delaware court to determine who lawfully controls the tokenization firm and preserve the status quo.

The estate says it initially worked with De Bode before reconstituting the board and voting to remove him.

A bitter corporate control fight has broken out at tokenized real-world asset issuer Ondo Finance following the

death of founder Nathan Allman

earlier this year, with his estate accusing former President and

current CEO

Ian De Bode of improperly attempting to seize control of the company while probate proceedings temporarily left its controlling voting stake in limbo.

Three Delaware Chancery Court filings asked a judge to determine who lawfully controls Ondo Finance and to bar extraordinary corporate actions until the governance dispute is resolved.

The lawsuit centers on the period immediately after Allman's death in May.

According to the complaint, Nathan Allman died as Ondo's CEO, sole director and controlling shareholder, but his voting power became part of his estate, meaning it could not immediately be exercised until his mother, Kathleen Allman, was formally appointed personal representative through Hawaii probate proceedings on June 26.

The public filings have redacted both the size of Nathan Allman's voting stake and the cause of his death.

The estate alleged that before probate concluded, De Bode wrongly claimed he automatically

became CEO

under Ondo's bylaws, elected himself as the company's sole director through a voting agreement and began taking corporate actions, including hiring advisors, approving performance grants and attempting to add another director. The complaint argues that the bylaws required board action to fill the CEO vacancy, making those actions invalid.

After gaining authority to vote the estate's shares, Kathleen Allman initially sought a cooperative transition rather than immediately removing De Bode, the filings said.

“Kathy Allman’s decision to file a lawsuit is regretful. This course of action is clearly not in the interests of the company, its stockholders, the team, or the Ondo ecosystem. The board has worked diligently to engage constructively with the Allman estate to date and will continue to do so going forward,” Ian De Bode, CEO of Ondo Finance, said in emailed comments to CoinDesk.

“Importantly, Ms. Allman's claims are meritless, and that will come through clearly in court. The company continues to have the support of key stakeholders, including its lead investors and the Ondo Foundation. The current leadership team remains fully committed to Ondo, its clients, the Ondo ecosystem, and Nate's vision for a more open, inclusive financial ecosystem. We look forward to putting this matter behind us,” he added.

According to the complaint, Allman appointed herself to the board, adopted an interim policy allowing ordinary business operations to continue, reaffirmed De Bode as president and requested basic corporate information, including a shareholder list, while expressing a desire to work collaboratively.

The estate said those efforts failed after De Bode and the company's outside counsel refused to recognize her actions or provide the requested corporate records. Kathleen Allman subsequently expanded the board, appointed new directors and, at a July 24 board meeting, voted to remove De Bode from all company positions while appointing herself chair and interim CEO.

The filings characterize Kathleen Allman's leadership as transitional rather than permanent, arguing that her objective is to stabilize governance while the board searches for Nathan Allman's long-term successor and ensure the business continues operating without interruption.

The estate is seeking an expedited ruling because uncertainty over who controls the company could affect contracts, expenditures, equity issuances and other corporate decisions, the filings said.

The court has not ruled on the allegations, and the filings reflect only the estate's version of events.

The Ondo Board of Directors said in a separate emailed statement that it “remains committed to our founder Nate Allman's belief that onchain markets are the future of finance. We are focused on serving our community without interruption, and empowering our people to maintain our momentum, as we search for his successor.”

The company announced earlier this week that it had appointed former Blockchain.com executive Adam Schlisman as chief financial officer.

Read more:

Ondo Finance hires former Blockchain.com CFO Adam Schlisman

ondo finance

litigation

AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to

our standards

.

For more information, see

CoinDesk's full AI Policy

.

Latest Crypto News

1

Tether expands tokenization business into Saudi Arabia, starting with real estate

7 hours ago

2

Crypto for Advisors: Europe's crypto rules, U.S. Preview

8 hours ago

3

JPMorgan says Hyperliquid ETF inflows have stalled as competition mounts

11 hours ago

4

Bitcoin’s low volatility doesn’t necessarily mean low risk

12 hours ago

5

Free Markets and Innovation, Sort Of

12 hours ago

6

Why Sandisk and Western Digital crashed 10% and what it means for bitcoin

12 hours ago

7

JPYC raises $38 million Series B led by major Japanese logistics firm AZ-COM Maruwa

12 hours ago

8

Bitcoin, ether benefit as traders seek safety of largest tokens

13 hours ago

9

NFT startup founder charged with misusing funds from $10 million fundraising

14 hours ago

10

Live updates: Bitcoin flatlines near $64,000 ahead of Friday's jobs report

16 hours ago

Latest Research

The Evolution of the Crypto CEX Landscape: A Case Study on Binance

The Evolution of the Crypto CEX Landscape: A Case Study on Binance

Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.

By

CoinDesk Research

Jun 29, 2026

Commissioned by

Binance

Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.

Why it matters

:

Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.

View Full Report

More From

Policy

NFT startup founder charged with misusing funds from $10 million fundraising

Here are the possible outcomes for Clarity right now

Crypto's campaign efforts see rare loss, but crypto roster in Congress likely to grow

Crypto

CD20

$1,741.16

CD20 down 0.90 percent

0.90%

BTC

$64,188.74

BTC down 0.64 percent

0.64%

ETH

$1,899.33

ETH down 0.40 percent

0.40%

XRP

$1.03

XRP down 2.76 percent

2.76%

SOL

$72.41

SOL down 2.11 percent

2.11%