Ankiti Bose, the former CEO of the Singapore-based business Zilingo, who was fired for suspected financial irregularities last year, has reportedly sued Mahesh Murthy, an angel investor and co-founder of Seedfund, for $100 million in defamation.
At Seedfund, an early-stage venture capital (VC) company, Murthy served as managing partner. Companies including Rebus, Chumbak, and others have received support from the firm.
The action was filed in the Bombay High Court on April 20 in relation to an essay written by Murthy and published in a prestigious business journal, reports major startup news portal Inc42.
Murthy offered various vivid hints about Bose without mentioning him by name. ”A lady” who “ran a well-known fashion portal and syphoned off Sequoia’s money” was referenced in the story.
In his essay, Murthy said that the woman “got her firm to pay her lawyer some Rs 70 crore in fees and—it is rumored—got a lot of that amount directly back to herself as her cut.”
On the other side, Ankiti Bose told Mint, “The fact is, there was no report provided to me; there was no evidence presented to me.” There were simply a lot of media announcements and a lot of anonymous sources making statements, but nobody else made any direct public statements.
Bose was quoted as claiming that the $100 million lawsuit was brought about by “the losses that statements like this can affect future endeavours” and her equity balance in Zilingo.
Currently, the lawsuit is reportedly in the pre-admission phase.
Zilingo fired its 30-year-old CEO, Bose, in March of last year after receiving allegations regarding purported financial irregularities.
The startup chose to fire Bose as a result of an investigation conducted by an independent forensics firm.
She brought up a few harassment-related matters from earlier time periods before the board in April of last year, but she did not include any accusations of harassment against investors or their candidates. After that, a reputable consulting firm was selected to look into the allegations of harassment that Ankiti had brought to the board’s attention.
Zilingo reports that, “contrary to media reports that indicated that the dismissal and inquiries into Bose were intended to suppress the said harassment claims,” the investigation found that the company addressed these complaints as they were brought to their attention and took the proper action while adhering to the law.
Leading investors like Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd. and Sequoia Capital India helped the business raise more than $300 million.
The company’s board of directors selected EY Corporate Services Pte. Ltd. as the temporary liquidator, Bloomberg reported earlier in January. As a result, Zilingo entered liquidation. According to Bloomberg, quoting sources, the board advised significant shareholders and creditors of its choice.
