Firm states Chill.com domain name has been misappropriated
Fresh board discovers alleged takeover of domain name.
In 2022, I interviewed Callum Sommerton, CEO of Chill Brands Group (London: CHLL).
The firm had just purchased the chill.com domain name for $1.6 million, and things were looking up for the CBD firm.
It’s been a rocky road since then.
Earlier this year, Sommerton was suspended from his duties while the firm investigated allegations of misuse of insider information. He was just reinstated following the investigation.
There was a board shakeup at a general meeting the prior week that removed the firm’s co-founders, Antonio Russo and Trevor Taylor, from the board.
Today, the fresh board disclosed some shocking revelations. The firm stated that its valuable domain name appears to have been misappropriated by the founders:
Throughout May 2024, Mr Taylor and Mr Russo took preparatory steps to transfer the registration of the Chill.com domain (the “Domain”) from the Firm to themselves. They did not have Board authorisation to do so. These activities appear to have culminated in the transfer of the domain’s registration to an account seemingly held and operated by Antonio Russo. The transfer of the Domain registration completed on 31 May 2024, without Board authority or knowledge.
At a Board meeting held on the evening (UK time) of 3 June 2024 (the day ahead of the GM), a resolution was proposed by Trevor Taylor for the transfer of the Domain and certain of the Firm’s trademarks to Chill North America, LLC (“CNA”), an entity controlled by Antonio Russo. An associated leaseback of their use to Chill Brands was also proposed. No final documents in executable form were presented to the Board and a vote of approval was forced through, despite the objections of the Firm’s sole independent Non-Executive Director. No disclosure was made at the Board meeting that the Domain had been transferred by now from the Firm to an entity controlled by Antonio Russo. The Firm has initiated actions to recover the ownership of the Domain.
Fortunately, the domain is still resolving, and there is no current impact on its business.
