KodakOne, the recent cryptocurrency project from Kodak, allegedly owes over $125,000 to developers contracted to work on the project.
This just in: A number of contractors claim that KodakOne owes them over $125,000 in outstanding invoices for work they did on its blockchain-powered photography platform.
KodakOne is disputing all of these claims and hopes to solve them in court.https://t.co/WMQwX2a7sQ
— Mix (@Mixtatiq) November 20, 2018
In a series of emails reviewed by Hard Fork, recruiting agency iFindTech accuses KodakOne of not honoring the payments in the scheduled time frame. According to an email sent by the iFindTech’s legal advisor, the European recruitment agency is seeking over $125,000 in accumulated invoices:
“Unfortunately apologies and unfulfilled promises of a payment proposal are not enabling my client to pay the people that did the work for [KodakOne] (…) Time is short and in the absence of any meaningful payment proposal, court proceedings will be commencing in [seven]days.”
The email exchanges further showed how iFindTech was forced to cease their work on KodakOne project due to lack of payment.
Other Alleged Owings
But the story doesn’t end here however. It was discovered that there are at least two other contractors that accuse KodakOne of similar wrongdoing. Contractor Armel Nene states that KodakOne owes him $36,000 while another unidentified contractor is asking for over $19,000 in unpaid services.
Armel Nene went on to write a detailed LinkedIn post explaining his stay as an employee for KodakOne. Nene explains that KodakOne’s development team resigned in October and that the company is currently hiring on social media. He also states that the company is publishing fake information regarding the beta launch of their platform, as one of the developers working on the platform is keeping the code as a ransom until he gets paid.
KodakOne’s response to the situation indicates that they are not interested in settling the debts outside of court: “All claims are in dispute and these legal matters will only be solved in front of the courts”. Regarding Nene’s situation, a KodakOne spokesperson denied the claims:
“This is a false statement (..) We will reserve all rights to take the necessary legal steps to stop Mr. Nene for making more wrong claims and further damaging our company.”
KodakOne
KodakOne is a photograph-oriented blockchain project. Promising to bring photographers a better financial incentive, the platform aims to use KodakCoin for payments for licensing photographs.
The project was first announced back in January, creating a stir and leading to Kodak’s stock price to rise from $3.15 to $10.70 in a matter of days. An ICO was scheduled for January 31 but after some delays a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT) was created in May. In a SAFT investors only receive the tokens when the final product is complete.
Owning licensing rights over the Kodak brand, Wenn Digital and RYDE Holdings are reportedly behind the project. Although it’s unclear how far in development KodakOne has progressed, the team is still updating social media frequently, while the CEO joins a panel of prominent speakers today at the Blockchain New Economy Hangzhou Summit 2018.
