Ondo Finance remains under the leadership of acting CEO Ian De Bode as Delaware and Hawaii courts consider competing claims over the company and the estate of founder Nathan Allman, whose death in a May accident left no will or succession plan.
Allman, 32, was Ondo’s sole director and controlling shareholder when he died. His estate holds the rights attached to his equity in the company and to a substantial allocation of ONDO tokens, including tokens already unlocked and others subject to future vesting schedules. The unresolved ownership of those interests has turned a leadership transition into a dispute over who can exercise shareholder authority over one of the largest tokenized-asset platforms.
Ondo announced on May 26 that De Bode, then the company’s president, would become chief executive. A Delaware Court of Chancery case filed later by Allman’s mother, Kathleen Allman, challenges the validity of that appointment and several compensation arrangements approved after the founder’s death.
A court order issued in early September left De Bode in place as acting CEO and maintained his board seat while the cases proceed. That arrangement gives Ondo operational continuity, but it does not settle the question of who ultimately controls the founder’s shares, board appointments, or token-related estate assets.
Estate ruling gave Kathleen Allman formal authority
The Hawaii probate court determined that Kathleen Allman and Lawrence Allman, Nathan Allman’s parents, are his legal heirs. In June, the court appointed Kathleen Allman as the personal representative of her son’s estate, placing her in charge of administering the assets while probate continues.
Kathleen Allman subsequently used what she described as shareholder authority tied to the estate to reconstitute Ondo’s board. In July, she said she had appointed herself as chair and interim CEO, named Allman’s sister Tahnee Towill as a director, and moved to remove De Bode from his executive and board roles.
Those actions produced a direct conflict between the estate’s claimed rights as controlling shareholder and the company’s existing management structure. The dispute is being argued in Delaware, where corporate governance questions are generally handled for Delaware-incorporated companies, while Hawaii is overseeing the estate itself.
The absence of a will has made the two proceedings closely connected. Probate determines who can act for the estate and how assets are administered; the Delaware case will help determine whether that authority translates into the corporate actions Kathleen Allman sought to take.
Delaware complaint challenges De Bode’s appointment and token award
Kathleen Allman’s Delaware complaint alleges that De Bode assumed the chief executive role without valid authorization from a properly constituted board after Nathan Allman’s death. She has asked the Court of Chancery to rule that his appointment and certain associated awards are legally ineffective.
The complaint also challenges De Bode’s compensation package. It describes a $900,000 annual salary and bonus arrangement, a $1 million signing bonus, and 26 million restricted ONDO tokens. The complaint values the disputed package at more than $11 million.
Restricted tokens generally cannot be freely sold immediately, as they are subject to conditions or vesting schedules. In this case, the award has become part of a wider governance argument over whether a management team could approve major executive incentives while the sole director and controlling shareholder’s estate remained unsettled.
De Bode has denied wrongdoing in court filings and opposed Kathleen Allman’s requested relief. The litigation has therefore moved beyond a disagreement over who should run Ondo day to day. It now includes whether post-death management decisions were made by a valid board and whether the estate could later unwind them.
The cases do not establish that Ondo’s products or its tokenized-asset operations have stopped functioning. The company has continued operating through the dispute, while the court process determines the boundaries of management authority.
Conservatorship petition widens fight within the family
The estate fight expanded again on Sept. 16, when Allman’s half-sister, Lani Clinton, and early Ondo backer David Chen filed a Hawaii petition seeking a limited conservatorship over Kathleen Allman’s inherited interest in the estate.
Their petition raises allegations about Kathleen Allman’s capacity and financial conduct and requests access to medical records and a dementia evaluation. It cites expenditures and attempted purchases including a Zeelander yacht priced at about $4 million, private-jet travel, a request for reimbursement for a Hawaii-to-California flight said to cost six figures, and accommodation allegedly costing about $4,000 per night.
The filing also refers to a text message attributed to Kathleen Allman, sent nine days after her son’s death, discussing a $200,000 Newport pool-contractor bill and an intention to complete yacht-related purchases.
Kathleen Allman has denied the allegations. They remain unproven, and the Hawaii court has not made findings establishing the claims in the petition.
The conservatorship request adds another layer to the corporate dispute because Kathleen Allman’s ability to act for the estate is central to her position in the Delaware case. Any change to her authority over inherited interests could affect the person or group able to direct the estate’s shareholder rights.
ONDO holdings place token allocation under scrutiny
The founder’s ONDO allocation is a central asset in the estate, alongside his company shares. The estate’s holdings include unlocked tokens as well as tokens scheduled to vest over coming years, according to the dispute’s description of the assets.
That structure makes control over the estate relevant to both corporate governance and the administration of a large token position. Vesting means tokens are released over time rather than becoming available all at once, which can limit immediate transferability but also creates ongoing decisions for whoever administers the estate.
No court ruling described in the current proceedings directs a sale or transfer of the founder’s token holdings. The legal cases instead focus on who has authority to manage the estate and whether Ondo’s leadership changes after Allman’s death complied with the company’s governance rules.
Ondo operates a platform for tokenized financial products across multiple blockchain networks. DefiLlama data placed the protocol’s total value locked at roughly $3.86 billion, a measure of assets deposited in its smart contracts, across 12 networks. That operating scale raises the stakes of an executive conflict, particularly when control rights are tied to a deceased founder who had concentrated authority in both the boardroom and share register.
For now, De Bode retains the acting CEO role under the September order, while Kathleen Allman’s Delaware challenge and the Hawaii probate and conservatorship matters continue. The eventual rulings will decide more than the founder’s estate: they will determine who can appoint Ondo’s directors, approve executive arrangements, and exercise the voting power attached to Nathan Allman’s controlling stake.
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