Dear Christoph,
As the VP of Innovation of Software AG, champion of IOTA and Tangle EE, and as an expert in not-for-profit German Foundations, I would like to share with you the following easily provable facts which demonstrate that the charitable not-for-profit IOTA Foundation has been, and it is still being, used for the personal enrichment of David Sønstebø, co-chairman of the Board or Directors of the IOTA Foundation.
1) On May 12, 2020, David Sønstebø said: “95% of my wealth is in the token”. To the question “You probably only need 5% of your wealth to survive?”, David Sønstebø responded “To survive, sure, but it’s not like I can ever get the 6 years I’ve devoted to the project back, so it better be worth it, which it will only be if IOTA is a success.”
2) On December 17, 2019, David Sønstebø claimed that he owned IoTIFY, a company with just 2 employees. On August 28, 2019, Hans Moog acknowledged that the IF uses IoTIFY services. On February, 2, 2020, David Sønstebø announced that its company “IoTIFY will play a significant role in IOTA deployment going forward”.
3) On August 8, 2018, Dominik Schiener, the other co-chairman of the Board or Directors of the IOTA Foundation, acknowledged in the “Board Leak” that the IF had paid “advisor tokens” to IOTA AS. The authenticity of the Board leak was confirmed by the IF Board that very same day. On February 3, 2020, David Sønstebø claimed twice that he owns 100% of IOTA AS. This matches the shareholder structure reported to the Norwegian Tax Authority in IOTA AS Financial Statements.
4) On April 20, 2018, David Sønstebø acknowledged that IOTA AS owns 80 Ti (roughly $16 millions at today’s valuation) not reclaimed by IOTA token holders after successive IOTA protocol upgrades. Although this statement comes from an screenshot leaked by Sergey Ivancheglo, it should be straightforward to confirm its authenticity with the IF during a formal proceeding. As stated before, David Sønstebø owns 100% of IOTA AS.
5) On April 30, 2020, Sergey Ivancheglo claimed that Dominik Schiener, IF’s custodian, transferred 0.5% of the total supply of IOTA tokens, from a non-segregated account mixing both IF and personal funds, to him. Although the concept of this transfer is disputed (donation return vs. payment for Qubic IP assets), the actual flow of funds is not. There is a transaction ID, dated January 5, 2019, for that exact amount, from an IF account to Sergey Ivancheglo’s.
Although I haven’t found the time yet to add these content to the cleanIOTA site, the evidence is already uploaded there for anyone interested.
There is more. Much more. But I will stop here. If you need a link to evidence supporting any specific claim above, let me know. I will be do my best to oblige.
As an expert in not-for-profit German Foundations, can you confidently state, for the record and for the peace of mind of the IOTA Community, that when the Berlin Stiftungsaufsicht receives the above information it will not find any “substance”?
Before jumping onboard of the ad hominem attacks train (I see that you have already liked a tweet stating that I am either Sergey Ivancheglo or his sock puppet), I respectfully ask you to reconsider your current, and very visible, pro-IOTA stance. I also ask you to re-evaluate the impact that the IF losing its not-for-profit status could have, not only in the IF’s funds, but also in your reputation, the reputation of the company you represent, and your career prospects. Finally, I invite you to join me in requesting the resignation of David Sønstebø from the Board of Directors of the IOTA Foundation as soon as possible.
Looking forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Hund
PS: Before rushing an answer, for your own benefit, may I suggest that you read carefully, and ponder, the hidden messages in Ralf Rottman’s farewell post?.
