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Kathleen Allman, mother of the late Ondo Finance founder Nathan Allman, is seeking to gain control of the company and requesting the removal of Ian De Bode from his position as CEO and president, according to a verified complaint filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery on July 24. The lawsuit comes less than two months after Ondo announced Allman’s passing, thrusting one of the major companies in the real-world asset tokenization space into a governance dispute during a period of expanding tokenized securities.
What The Complaint Says
According to the complaint, Kathleen Allman alleges that Ian De Bode has “improperly held himself out” as the CEO of Ondo following the death of Nathan Allman without board approval. She also alleges that De Bode sought to make himself the sole director of the company.
At the heart of the dispute is the status of Ondo’s board following Nathan Allman’s death. The complaint contends that at that time, the board had two seats: one held by Nathan Allman and the other vacant. Under Kathleen Allman’s argument, when Nathan passed away, the company had no remaining directors with the authority to approve De Bode’s appointment as CEO.
The Block noted that the public version of the complaint redacted several key pieces of information, including the specific voting interest percentage that Nathan Allman’s estate reportedly holds, as well as his cause of death. These redacted portions leave the public filing currently insufficient to fully verify the claim that the estate holds controlling interest in Ondo.
Kathleen Allman’s Control Claim
Kathleen Allman argues that as the personal representative of Nathan Allman’s estate, she has the right to represent the controlling voting interest in Ondo. According to the complaint, she was appointed by a Hawaii court as the personal representative of the estate in late June, and, approximately two weeks later, signed a stockholder written consent appointing herself as the sole director of Ondo.
Subsequently, Allman expanded the board to four seats and appointed Gordon Liao and Tahnee Towill. Liao declined the position for “reasons unrelated” to the legal dispute, according to the filing cited by The Block. Towill is Nathan Allman’s sister.
On July 24, the same day the complaint was filed, Allman and Towill voted to remove De Bode from all officer, employee, and consultant positions at Ondo, including his role as president. The complaint also states that Allman was appointed as chair, CEO, secretary, and treasurer.
Should the court accept this argument, the lawsuit will not only revolve around the CEO title, but will also decide who holds the legal right to reconstitute the board and control Ondo following the founder’s death.
De Bode Rejects The Claims
In a response provided to The Block, De Bode said Kathleen Allman’s claims are “meritless” and will be clarified in court. He also stated that Ondo continues to receive support from key stakeholders, including lead investors and the Ondo Foundation.
De Bode continued to use the title of Ondo Finance CEO in his response. He argued that the lawsuit does not serve the interests of the company, shareholders, the team, or the Ondo ecosystem, while stating that the current leadership team remains committed to clients and Nathan Allman’s vision of a more open financial system.
Kathleen Allman’s side stated that the board group she established remains committed to Nathan Allman’s belief that on-chain markets are the future of finance, while focusing on maintaining company operations while searching for a successor.
The allegations in the complaint currently remain allegations from one party in the dispute. The Delaware Court of Chancery has not yet issued a ruling confirming which party holds legitimate control over Ondo.
What’s At Stake
Ondo is currently one of the major names in the real-world asset tokenization sector. According to DeFiLlama, Ondo Finance currently holds approximately $3.49 billion in TVL across 14 blockchains, while CoinGecko records the ONDO token as having a market capitalization of around $1.93 billion.
Ondo’s scale extends beyond tokenized Treasurys. Ondo Stocks, the segment bringing traditional securities on-chain, is recording around $1 billion in TVL, 440+ assets, and
Ondo Stocks dashboard. Source: Ondo Finance
Nathan Allman passed away at the end of May, De Bode was announced as taking over the CEO role shortly thereafter, and less than two months later, the founder’s mother took the dispute to the Delaware Court of Chancery. The lawsuit therefore emerges just as Ondo is expanding deeper into tokenized securities, a sector highly dependent on the trust of investors, partners, and regulatory frameworks.
The Delaware Court of Chancery has not yet issued a ruling regarding control of Ondo. Until the court resolves the complaint, De Bode and Kathleen Allman continue to present two opposing positions regarding who holds the authority to run the company following Nathan Allman’s death.
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