- Crypto trading firm DWF has fired a partner for “unacceptable behaviour.”
- The outster happened hours after a woman accused a partner in a social media post of drugging her drink during a business meeting.
Crypto trading firm DWF Labs fired a partner on Tuesday hours after a woman published a social media post accusing one of drugging her during a recent business meeting in Hong Kong.
“DWF Labs is aware of the recent and deeply concerning allegations involving one of our partners, who has been accused of inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour,” DWF said in a statement Tuesday.
“While the matter is under investigation, DWF Labs has decided to dismiss the said partner from management and operational roles effective immediately.”
The statement did not identify the partner. But DWF has removed partner Eugene Ng from its “team” webpage, according to a report from The Block.
While Ng could not be found on DWF’s website Tuesday afternoon, DL News could not immediately confirm that he had been removed after the woman’s account of her ordeal in Hong Kong went viral hours earlier.
LinkedIn and X accounts that belong to Ng appeared Tuesday afternoon to have been deleted or made private. DL News was able to find and view LinkedIn accounts that belong to other employees listed on the company’s “team” webpage.
Ng and DWF did not immediately return DL News’ request for comment.
On Tuesday, X user “Hana” said she had told police in Hong Kong that a partner at DWF had spiked her drink during a meeting at a bar the evening of October 24. Hong Kong police did not immediately confirm that an investigation was underway.
In her post, Hana shared a still image from security footage that purportedly shows the partner spiking her drink.
Hana works in venture capital, according to the bio on her five-month-old X account. She did not immediately return DL News’ request for comment.
“He has previously approached me a couple of times offering me a job opportunity — a project he claimed was a perfect fit for my background,” she wrote on X.
“As someone new to crypto, and eager to learn, I accepted his invitation.”
During the meeting, Hana went to the bathroom, and took a couple sips of her drink when she returned, she wrote on X. When the partner stepped out to take a call, a waitress came over and told her that her drink had been spiked.
“All I wanted to do was leave the situation but as I tried to step outside I felt extremely dizzy,” she wrote. “I can remember the disgust I felt when he kept saying: ‘come with me I have a suite at the Murray, and stay close with me I can give you more alpha, I can help you get to places.’”
DWF said it will “continue to monitor the situation and stand in solidarity with individuals affected by such incidents, as we believe in justice and support for all.”
It isn’t the first time the firm has been the subject of controversy.
In May 9 report in The Wall Street Journal, DWF was identified among the firms accused of engaging in pump-and-dump schemes and market manipulation on crypto exchange Binance last year.
A former Binance insider claimed Binance’s investigations team uncovered $300 million worth of wash trading from DWF Labs.
Wash trading refers to simultaneously buying and selling the same asset to create a false impression of market activity.
DWF Labs pushed back against the accusations.
“It’s competitor-driven FUD,” Heng Yu Lee, a founding partner at DWF Labs, told DL News, using the acronym for fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
Aleks Gilbert is a DeFi correspondent based in New York. You can reach him at aleks@dlnews.com.