Ondo Finance founder's estate sues CEO over control of the company

The estate of Ondo Finance founder Nathan Allman has gone to Delaware Chancery Court to ask a judge who legally controls the tokenized real-world asset issuer, alleging that former President and current CEO Ian De Bode installed himself at the top of the company during the weeks when Allman's controlling voting stake was frozen in probate.

CoinDesk, which reviewed three filings lodged in Chancery and published the story on Thursday, reports the estate is seeking an expedited ruling on control plus an order barring extraordinary corporate actions until the dispute is resolved.

The sequence, per the complaint as described by CoinDesk: Allman died in May while serving as Ondo's CEO, sole director and controlling shareholder. His voting power passed into his estate and could not be exercised until his mother, Kathleen Allman, was appointed personal representative in Hawaii probate proceedings on June 26. In that gap, the estate alleges, De Bode claimed he automatically became CEO under Ondo's bylaws, elected himself sole director via a voting agreement, and started acting on it — hiring advisors, approving performance grants and attempting to seat another director. The estate's legal theory is narrow and procedural: the bylaws required board action to fill a CEO vacancy, so the actions were void.

What followed was not an immediate coup attempt from the other side. The estate says Kathleen Allman first tried a cooperative handover — appointing herself to the board, adopting an interim policy to let ordinary operations continue, reaffirming De Bode as president, and asking for basic corporate records including a shareholder list. That broke down, the filings say, when De Bode and Ondo's outside counsel declined to recognize her actions or hand over the records. She then expanded the board, appointed new directors and, at a July 24 board meeting, voted to remove De Bode from all positions, taking the chair and interim CEO roles herself. The filings frame her tenure as transitional while the board searches for a permanent successor.

De Bode, in emailed comments to CoinDesk, called the suit "regretful" and Kathleen Allman's claims "meritless," and said the company retains the support of its lead investors and the Ondo Foundation. Ondo's board separately said it is focused on serving its community "without interruption" while searching for a successor.

Key facts

• Three Delaware Chancery filings seek a ruling on lawful control of Ondo and a freeze on extraordinary corporate actions — CoinDesk, citing the filings.
• Allman died in May as CEO, sole director and controlling shareholder; Kathleen Allman was appointed personal representative in Hawaii probate on June 26 — complaint, via CoinDesk.
• July 24: board as reconstituted by the estate voted to remove De Bode and named Kathleen Allman chair and interim CEO — complaint, via CoinDesk.
• The size of Allman's voting stake and his cause of death are redacted in the public filings — CoinDesk.
• Ondo appointed former Blockchain.com executive Adam Schlisman as CFO earlier this week — CoinDesk.

The real-world read

Both sides are claiming continuity with the same dead founder, which is the tell that this is about control, not vision. De Bode's statement leans on the backing of "lead investors and the Ondo Foundation" — neither of which decides who holds the shares. The estate does. The redacted stake size matters here and isn't public: without it, no outsider can independently check whose votes actually win.

Two things sit awkwardly. De Bode's camp says the board "has worked diligently to engage constructively with the Allman estate" — but the specific, checkable complaint is that the estate asked for a shareholder list and was refused. Refusing a controlling holder's books-and-records request is not usually what constructive engagement looks like. And Ondo announced a CFO hire this week, in the middle of a suit asking a judge to bar extraordinary corporate actions — a company treating its governance as settled while a court is being asked whether it is.

Worth stating plainly: only one side's account is on the record. Chancery has not ruled, De Bode has filed no answering narrative beyond two emailed statements, and the complaint's version of events is untested. The court docket itself hasn't been independently reviewed here.

Opinion, and whose

• Ian De Bode (CEO, Ondo Finance), to CoinDesk: the suit is "clearly not in the interests of the company, its stockholders, the team, or the Ondo ecosystem," and Kathleen Allman's claims are "meritless."
• The Ondo board, in a statement to CoinDesk: it remains committed to Allman's belief that "onchain markets are the future of finance" and is searching for a successor.
• The Allman estate, via the complaint: unresolved control uncertainty threatens contracts, expenditures and equity issuances — the stated basis for wanting an expedited ruling.

Sources

• CoinDesk (Aug. 6, 2026), "Power struggle erupts at Ondo Finance after founder's death" — the sole account here. Its reporting rests on three Delaware Chancery filings it reviewed, plus emailed statements from De Bode and the Ondo board. The filings themselves are the primary documents and are the better read once docketed.
• CoinDesk's page also carries a sponsored item, "The Evolution of the Crypto CEX Landscape: A Case Study on Binance." That is marketing, not reporting, and none of it informs this story.

Not investment advice.