A dispute over control of Ondo Finance has reached Delaware’s Court of Chancery, with late founder Nathan Allman’s estate challenging Ian De Bode’s authority to serve as chief executive and s
A dispute over control of Ondo Finance has reached Delaware’s Court of Chancery, with late founder Nathan Allman’s estate challenging Ian De Bode’s authority to serve as chief executive and sole director.
Kathleen Allman, Nathan Allman’s mother and personal representative of his estate, filed a verified complaint on July 24 claiming the estate holds a controlling voting interest in Ondo. The precise stake is redacted from the public filing.
The complaint seeks a determination of which board legally controls the company and challenges corporate actions taken since Allman’s death.
Nathan Allman died unexpectedly in late May, leaving a company he founded in 2021 without its CEO and sitting director.
Ondo subsequently announced that company president Ian De Bode would assume the chief executive role. De Bode later outlined the leadership transition in an official June 1 update, saying Ondo’s existing team would continue executing Allman’s roadmap.
Kathleen Allman disputes whether De Bode had the corporate authority to take that position. The Delaware complaint alleges Ondo had two board seats when Nathan Allman died, one occupied by Allman and another already vacant.
His death therefore left no sitting director capable of approving De Bode’s appointment, the estate argues.
A Hawaii court appointed Kathleen Allman personal representative of her son’s estate in late June. She subsequently used the estate’s claimed voting power to appoint herself as Ondo’s sole director before expanding the board.
Allman appointed her daughter Tahnee Towill and Gordon Liao to additional seats, although Liao declined for reasons unrelated to the dispute.
On July 24, Allman and Towill voted to remove De Bode from his officer, employee and consultant positions and appointed Kathleen Allman chair, interim CEO, secretary and treasurer.
De Bode rejected the claims as “meritless” and said Ondo’s current leadership retains the support of key stakeholders, lead investors and the Ondo Foundation. He also argued that the litigation is not in the interests of the company, its shareholders or the wider Ondo ecosystem.
The court has not ruled on either side’s claimed authority.
The dispute arrives during rapid growth across Ondo’s tokenization business. Ondo Global Markets surpassed $1 billion in tokenized stock and ETF value in May, while cumulative trading volume moved above $18 billion.
The platform subsequently expanded beyond 430 tokenized stocks and ETFs across Ethereum, Solana and BNB Chain.
Ondo also launched 24/7 minting and redemption for selected tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs in June, widening its role beyond tokenized Treasuries into continuous public-market exposure.
The July 24 complaint asks the Delaware Court of Chancery to determine the valid composition of Ondo’s board and restrict major corporate actions while control of the company remains contested.
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