After cryptocurrency investor Vignesh Sundaresan bought Beeple’s Every day – The first 5000 days at Christie’s in 2021, he reveled in the idea that he had acquired an extremely expensive JPEG and encouraged the entire internet to download it for free. But when it comes to establishing who bought and owned $69 million NFTSundaresan was anything but laissez-faire.
In a case filed in the Southern District of New York on June 16, Sundaresan and his company Portkey Technologies are suing a former Massachusetts-based blockchain entrepreneur and entrepreneur Anand Venkateswaran for trademark infringement and false allegations of being intimately involved in the purchase of the Beeple artwork.
Purchase Granted MetaPursethe fund through which Sundaresan acquired the NFT, global attention, one that Venkateswaran sought to capitalize on by falsely associating himself with the brand.
This stands in contrast to the narrative told in the aftermath of the sale, which in many ways transformed NFTs from a niche concept into a mainstream topic of conversation overnight. Shortly after the Christie’s auction, MetaPurse published an article on Sub-stack which told the story of “how two immigrants from Tamil Nadu bought a digital artwork for $69 million”. These two individuals were relayed as Vignesh Sundaresan, aka Metakovan, and Anand Venkateswaran, aka Twobadour, an online identity, the lawsuit, created and filed by Sundaresan, pointed out.
Now the tone has completely changed. The lawsuit alleges that Venkateswaran did not own Twobadour and merely operated ownership of the brand on behalf of his boss.
“Without limitation, the defendant has publicly claimed to be one of two individuals who purchased the Beeple NFT,” the 26-page lawsuit states. “Defendant sought to promote his own businesses, including, but not limited to, eDAO and Layer-Ewho focused on selling NFT.
As noted in the lawsuit, Venkateswaran started working for Portkey, Sundaresan’s Singapore-based company that owns both MetaPurse, in 2017 in website development and communications capability. This role expanded in 2020, with Venkateswaran also helping to operate MetaPurse on behalf of Sundaresan.
As MetaPurse’s profile has grown following the acquisition of Beeple, the pair have come forward publicly as the faces of a new generation of entrepreneurs and art owners. Internally, the suit says the tension was growing. Prior to the mutual termination of Venkateswaran’s contract in early 2022, Sundaresan was aggrieved to find his employee using the Twobadour brand and alias outside of his Portkey job.
According to the lawsuit, Venkateswaran’s practice of falsely logging into the Beeple sale and claiming credit for MetaPurse purchases only increased after he left Portkey. This included creating podcasts and appearing on YouTube, such as on The Blockchain Council Podcast where he said, “I was the steward of MetaPurse…I was one of two guys who bought the $69 million Beeple coin.”
Similar claims appeared on his social media accounts, including at the top of his Twitter page which read, “As @twobadour, steward of @metapurse, won $69 million @BEEPLE auction.”
Following the trial, Venkateswaran’s summit Twitter account has been changed and now reads, “NFT tribesman. Artist fanboy. Lucky husband, proud father, wishful thinking.
The duo announced their separation late 2022, though Metakovan told Artnet News at the time, “We’re still friends.”
Venkateswaran did not respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit says that Venkateswaran ignored repeated warnings to stop misrepresenting and that his refusal to do so damaged the reputations of Portkey and Sundaresan, as well as their current investments and ability to do business. new business projects.
Sundaresan seeks an injunction as well as damages, attorneys’ fees and costs.
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