The company Movement Labs has found itself at the center of a scandal due to the leak of internal documents revealing fraudulent practices. Journalists at CoinDesk report that the firm entered into agreements with two advisors, which included providing them with up to 10% of MOVE tokens without prior notification to investors.
This is reported by Finway
According to information obtained from journalists, this involves CEO of Zebec Protocol Sam Tapaliya and consultant Vinit Parekh. Both received stakes ranging from 2.5% to 5% of the tokens, as well as other benefits. One of the memorandums even stipulated payments of up to $2 million annually.
Allegations and Response
In a comment, Movement Labs stated that the signed documents had no legal force; however, Tapaliya insisted on the company’s obligations and demanded 2.5% of the token volume. Insiders claim that he had significant influence over the decisions of the startup’s co-founders and was actively involved in negotiations with the Chinese market maker Web3Port. According to CoinDesk, employees of Movement Labs even referred to Tapaliya as the “shadow co-founder” due to his substantial influence on key decisions.
“When CoinDesk approached Tapaliya before the publication of the investigation, he denied any financial interest in Movement Labs or Movement Foundation. He also denied involvement in the deal with Web3Port,” the report states.
Further Consequences
Vinit Parekh was also given the opportunity to control 2.5% of the tokens and access to significant bonuses, as noted in the memorandum. CoinDesk reports that Parekh was granted broad autonomy in developing the project’s strategy, although the consultant denies receiving any payment.
Co-founder Rushi Manche received 5% of MOVE tokens for marketing purposes, according to the agreement, and he was also allocated 2.5% of the total token volume. In March 2025, after the publication of the investigation, it became known that these agreements had been deliberately concealed. In May, Coinbase announced the delisting of the MOVE token due to violations of standards, leading to a decline in its value by 84% from the peak recorded in December 2024.
It is worth noting that earlier Rushi Manche denied allegations of insider trading.