PANews reported on December 28 that Solana co-founder Stephen Akridge was sued by his ex-wife Elisa Rossi, accusing him of stealing "millions of dollars" in rewards generated by SOL staking, and seeking claims including breach of contract, unjust enrichment and fraud, according to Bloomberg. According to the complaint, Stephen Akridge "took advantage of the huge difference in his expertise in cryptocurrency and blockchain" to secretly obtain Elisa Rossi's staking rewards. Although Elisa Rossi mentioned a "huge amount" in her request to the court to keep part of the lawsuit confidential, the value of the tokens involved in the lawsuit was not disclosed. Elisa Rossi said that from early March to mid-May, these accounts "were operated and controlled by Stephen Akridge.
Akridge previously served as Solana’s chief engineer, playing a key role in developing the blockchain platform alongside co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal. Prior to joining Solana, Akridge worked at Qualcomm and is now the CEO of Cyber Grant, a California-based cybersecurity company.