A bitter legal battle has erupted at Ondo Finance, with the estate of late founder Nathan Allman accusing current Chief Executive Officer Ian De Bode of trying to seize control of the tokenized real-world asset company following Allman’s death earlier this year.
The dispute, now before the Delaware Court of Chancery, centers on who legally controls the company and whether De Bode had the authority to make key corporate decisions while ownership of Ondo’s controlling voting stake remained tied up in probate proceedings.
According to three court filings, the estate has asked a judge to determine who lawfully controls Ondo Finance and to prevent the company from taking any extraordinary corporate actions until the governance dispute is resolved.
The lawsuit focuses on the weeks following Nathan Allman’s death in May.
What does the lawsuit entail?
Court filings state that Allman died while serving as Ondo’s chief executive officer, sole director and controlling shareholder. However, because his voting power became part of his estate after his death, it could not immediately be exercised until his mother, Kathleen Allman, was formally appointed as the estate’s personal representative through probate proceedings in Hawaii.
That appointment was finalized on June 26. The public filings do not disclose the size of Nathan Allman’s voting stake, and the cause of his death has been redacted.
The estate alleges that before probate concluded, De Bode claimed he had automatically become CEO under the company’s bylaws and proceeded to take control of the business.
Estate says CEO took key corporate actions before probate was complete
According to the complaint, De Bode elected himself as Ondo’s sole director through a voting agreement and authorized several corporate actions, including hiring outside advisers, approving performance-based equity grants and attempting to appoint another director to the board.
The estate argues those decisions were invalid because Ondo’s bylaws required the board, not an automatic succession process, to appoint a new chief executive after Allman’s death.
Once Kathleen Allman obtained authority to vote the estate’s shares, the filings say she initially attempted to work cooperatively with company leadership instead of immediately removing De Bode.
That effort ultimately failed, leading to the current legal dispute. De Bode has strongly rejected the allegations. According to media reports, he described the lawsuit as “regretful” and argued that it does not serve the interests of the company, its shareholders or the wider Ondo ecosystem.
“The board has worked diligently to engage constructively with the Allman estate to date and will continue to do so going forward,” De Bode said.
He also dismissed the estate’s legal claims. “Importantly, Ms. Allman’s claims are meritless, and that will come through clearly in court,” he said, adding that Ondo continues to have the backing of its lead investors and the Ondo Foundation.
De Bode said the leadership team remains committed to carrying forward Nathan Allman’s vision of building “a more open, inclusive financial ecosystem.”
The outcome of the case could have significant implications for Ondo Finance, one of the better-known companies operating in the fast-growing tokenized real-world asset sector.
Beyond determining who controls the company, the court’s decision could also shape how startup governance disputes are handled when founders with controlling voting rights die unexpectedly.
Until then, the question of who is legally in charge of Ondo Finance remains unresolved.
