Former Employee Sues Kraken, Demanding $900K compensation

Kraken, one of the biggest crypto exchanges owned by Jesse Powell, is being sued by a former employee, by the name of Jonathan Silverman.

Silverman claims that Kraken allegedly failed to pay him the promised 10% commission of the trading desk’s annual profit during his 3 months tenureship. Silverman used to be the former trading desk manager at the exchange, and was hired in April 2017.

As of now, Silverman has demanded $900,000 in compensation for more than the $19 million profits that the trading desk generated while he was supervising it. He was also one of the last 2 persons employed at Kraken’s New York trading office, and his dues haven’t been cleared yet.

Sources claim that Kraken “refuses” to pay the lump sum settlement. Kraken agreed to pay to him in a settlement done after his leaving the company, which was $907,631, but they haven’t obliged yet.

Christina Vee, speaking on behalf of Kraken, said that Silverman is “both lying and in breach of his confidentiality agreement”.

Silverman has also accused Kraken of fooling the state of New York. The lawuit states that Kraken had been

“misrepresenting to the public and government regulators that it was not operating in New York; when in reality, Kraken’s OTC practice, and OTC trading (including logging into the Kraken exchange and negotiating wire transfers) occurred almost exclusively in New York”.

The lawsuit also states CEO Jesse Powell’s statement in a tweet back in April 2018,

“We made the wise decision to get the hell out of New York three years ago” as well as Kraken’s official announcement on their blog titled, “Farewell, New York.”