The Ondo Finance succession crisis gets messier as Kathleen Allman’s daughter alleges ‘dementia’, alcoholism and reckless spending

The succession crisis at Ondo Finance in the wake of its young founder Nathan Allman’s recent death is getting messier, as Allman’s family wages a legal battle against acting CEO Ian De Bode, and now, against each other.

Allman’s half-sister, Dr. Lani Clinton, and Ondo investor David Chen have petitioned a Hawaiian court to establish a limited conservatorship over Clinton’s 77-year-old mother Kathleen Allman’s share of the Ondo Founder’s estate, which includes a “controlling equity interest in Ondo Finance” and a “very large holding of ONDO tokens” including unlocked tokens and tokens that will unlock over the next three years.

Nathan Allman died suddenly and without a will at age 32 in May, leaving his estate — including his stake in Ondo Finance — in limbo. A probate court subsequently named his parents, Kathleen Allman and Lawrence Allman, his inheritors.

In the wake of Allman’s death, De Bode took the helm at Ondo. Shortly after De Bode’s ascension to acting CEO, Allman’s mother appointed herself and another of her children, Tahnee Towill, to Ondo’s board, named herself chair and interim CEO, and attempted to remove him from all company positions (he remains acting CEO and a member of Ondo’s board as of a Sept. 3 court order).

Ondo Finance declined to comment, and CoinDesk’s call to De Bode went unanswered.

Kathleen Allman subsequently filed suit against De Bode, accusing him of a “brazen usurpation of corporate control” and alleging that he began plotting a new $11 million compensation package within a week of Allman’s death. Her suit seeks to establish that De Bode and Chen, an early Ondo backer who De Bode sought to appoint to the board, were not validly appointed, that the disputed compensation awards are void, and seeks damages for alleged breaches of fiduciary duties.

De Bode’s compensation package included a $900,000 annual salary and bonus, a $1 million signing bonus and 26 million restricted token units valued at more than $9 million, Allman’s complaint said. The package also included awards covering 846,000 shares that would have increased his stake from 0.33% to 8%, or roughly 24-fold. Vesting was set to begin May 25, the day after Allman died.

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