Former Theta Labs Executives File Whistleblower Lawsuits Alleging CEO Fraud and Market Manipulation
Two former executives of Theta Labs, Jerry Kowal and Andrea Berry, have filed separate whistleblower lawsuits in Los Angeles Superior Court accusing Theta Labs and CEO Mitch Liu of deception, market manipulation, self-dealing, and retaliation.
The lawsuits claim Liu exploited Theta Labs and its parent company, Sliver VR Technologies, to inflate THETA token prices through undisclosed insider token sales, misleading partnerships, and pump-and-dump schemes that negatively affected investors and employees.
Berry alleges that she observed and reported fraudulent conduct designed to artificially inflate THETA's value and enrich Liu, including fake or misleading partnerships with high-profile entities and celebrities such as Katy Perry. She also contends that Theta publicly misrepresented a Google partnership, describing it as a strategic alliance when it was actually an arrangement for Theta to spend around $7 million on Google Cloud services.
Kowal's complaint asserts that Liu used Theta Labs as a personal trading vehicle, implementing pump-and-dump tactics and placing false bids on NFTs linked to Theta's token and NFT marketplace.
The legal complaints highlight a years-long pattern of self-dealing involving Theta’s two main tokens—THETA, which serves governance and staking functions, and TFUEL, used for transaction fees—as well as the NFT marketplace and Theta Network’s broader ecosystem, including Theta EdgeCloud for computing, storage, and media delivery.
Theta Labs is incorporated in Delaware. As of this report, the defendants have not immediately responded to requests for comment.
