According to Reuters, on June 10th, the British e-cigarette manufacturer Chill Brands (CHLL.L) announced that its Chief Commercial Officer, Antonio Russo, and Chief Operating Officer, Trevor Taylor, transferred the registration of the company's website domain Chill.com to themselves in May this year, marking yet another setback for the company.
The newly appointed board is also investigating whether consultants appointed by Ruso and Taylor assisted them in perpetrating corporate fraud in the alleged activities. Previously, the company's CEO Callum Sommerton was suspended in April over allegations of using internal information. The two individuals took over the executive management of the company and its subsidiaries from April until June 4.
The new chairman of the board, Harry Chathli, stated, "These activities have led to the destruction of Chill.com's registered domain name, indicating that Russo was seemingly involved in owning and operating this business.
Chill Brands has taken action to regain ownership of Chill.com. In April of this year, the largest shareholder of Chill Brands, Jonathan Mark Swann, called for the removal of Russ and Taylor from the board of directors of Chill Brands and appointed Harry Chathli as a director. On June 4th, when the new board of directors was appointed, the two were removed.
The board of directors of Chill Brands also discovered that on June 3, the group's US subsidiary transferred nearly $400,000 from its bank account to the personal US bank accounts of Russo and Taylor. The board demanded explanations from Taylor and Russo for these payment activities and stated that they would "recover these funds through all legal means.
Currently, the investigation is still ongoing and the company is unable to provide transaction updates or seek the resumption of stock trading.
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