Marathon Digital CEO Fred Thiel Faces Legal Battle Over Alleged Breach Of Duties

Crypto mining company Marathon Digital MARA is facing legal action as its shareholders have accused CEO Fred Thiel and other senior executives of breaching fiduciary duties, unjust enrichment, and wasting corporate assets.

A shareholder complaint against Thiel and nine other executives from Marathon was lodged in the United States District Court of Nevada on July 8.

The executives are being sued on five counts, including violations of the U.S. Exchange Act, breach of fiduciary duties, unjust enrichment, and waste of corporate assets.

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The plaintiffs are also seeking compensation from Thiel for wrongful acts that led to a complaint against the company by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

The legal team representing the shareholders did not specify a compensation amount, leaving the decision to the court. The shareholders are also seeking to improve the company's governance by enhancing the board's oversight of operations, nominating at least four shareholder candidates, and abolishing the existing directors' election process.

The legal team alleges that the company's management has been minimizing its issues, artificially boosting Marathon's valuation, receiving excessive compensation, making profitable insider sales, and receiving unjustly high bonuses based on false and misleading statements.

In May, Marathon received a subpoena from the SEC related to "transactions with related parties" that took place while it was establishing a facility in Montana.

In 2021, the regulator had ordered the company to produce documents and communications related to the same mining facility.

In May, Thiel discussed the company's strategy to reduce its net loss from $12.9 million ($0.12 per share) in Q1 2022 to $7.2 million ($0.05 per share) this year.

Although the price of Bitcoin BTC/USD also impacted the company's quarterly results, Marathon was able to decrease its debt in March.

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Photo: Screenshot of Fred Thiel via Marathon Digital Holdings YouTube video