A Twitter account making a series of accusations against Nexo has caused the cryptocurrency lender to issue a cease and desist notice.

Cryptocurrency lending platform Nexo has responded to what it has called “fake news” and rumors that its founders were part of a charity embezzlement scandal; said the claims are false and defamatory. It has issued a public notice of cease and desist to the author of the accusations.

In a blog post about the claims, Nexo stated that, “Several anonymous Twitter accounts are using lies and distortions in another smear campaign against Nexo and profiting from short positions in a troubled market.”

“Otter” Twits Begin

The pseudonymous Twitter account @otteroooo, who goes by “Otter,” posted a series of tweets on June 25, alleging that the Nexo co-founders stole funds from the Bulgarian charity HelpKarma to buy real estate and finance “luxurious personal trips”:

“NEXO FOUNDER & FAMILY SIPHONED FUNDS FROM CHARITY FOR SICK KIDS, USED DONATIONS AS PERSONAL SLUSH FUND, EVEN BUILT A PALACE FOR THEMSELVES. Evidences presented in full by otter below. No bueno!”

The thread garnered a large audience on Twitter, with Otter sharing a screenshot that had received more than 9 million impressions, prompting Nexo to respond to what they say are “ridiculous accusations” and issue the cease and desist notice.

The central accusation Otter makes is that HelpKarma founder and Nexo co-founder “Konsta Kanchev” used the donation funds to help build a palace instead of using the money for children’s medical treatments:

“Konsta Kanchev (Bulgarian Boy 1) embezzled the funds and went on to build a muthaf*ckin PALACE, “the size of a high school. The money came from the donations of more than 130,000 Bulgarians who readily donated into what they thought was meant for medical treatment for children.”

Nexo and Otter Face Each other

A response from Nexo notes that “Konsta Kanchev” does not exist and that Otter deliberately created the name “to mimic a typo as an excuse” by confusing two different people, HelpKarma founder Constantine Krastev and Nexo co-founder Kosta Kantchev, as if they were the same person.

Another major accusation Otter makes is that as HelpKarma donations increased while Credissimo Company began reporting sizable increases in its capital; he cited the November 2020 report from Fakti, implying that donations were used to finance Credissimo.

On how this scandal links to Nexo, Otter points out that Nexo’s white paper says it’s “powered by Credissimo.” Credissimo was founded by Kantchev, and Nexo co-founders Georgi Shulev and Antoni Trenchev were responsible for the companies’ business development and innovation, respectively.

In response to the claims, Nexo said that it and HelpKarma “have not had, nor have they ever had, common operations, common beneficial owners, or common management,” adding:

“Why would a company with hundreds of millions of revenues and billions of assets under management, vetted by Fidelity, Mastercard, and dozens of regulators, ever have to resort to petty theft, let alone children with medical needs? ?’ That is the logical but forgotten question.”

Nexo says this isn’t the first time they’ve been part of what they call a “coordinated attack,” citing allegations from 2020 that it was behind Zeus Capital, an asset management firm that wanted to take Chainlink (LINK) down.

By Audy Castaneda