Across Protocol has been accused of stealing $23 million from DAO’s coffers

The Across Protocol blockchain bridge team is at the center of a scandal after accusations of withdrawing $23 million from the treasury of the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) in favor of its own nonprofit Risk Labs. This was stated by an anonymous critic under the pseudonym Ogle, known for exposés in the crypto space and an advisor to the Trump-linked World Liberty Financial project.

He said two votes for $15 million and $7.5 million were made using disguised wallets controlled by the team. He characterized such actions as “self-service” and called Across a “DAO in name only.” Project CEO Hart Lambour rejected the accusations, calling them “categorically false”, and said that the funds were used to develop versions v3 and v4. He emphasized that Risk Labs is a non-profit structure, and all voting addresses are either publicly affiliated with the team or purchased ACX tokens on their own.

Despite Ogle’s caveat about possible inaccuracies, he claims to be “somewhat of an asset fad himself” since he holds ACX. He also said he had previously discussed the material with Across treasurer Kevin Chan and Lambourg, but noted “almost no help” from the head of marketing.

Amid the conflict, Lambour’s competitor, LayerZero CEO Brian Pellegrino, published screenshots of ACX purchases shortly before its listing on Binance. Across claims that the team had no prior knowledge of the listing and called for an apology. Lambour himself responded by noting that the anonymous Ogle was previously suspected of insider trading in the TRUMP token. Since the accusations were published, the price of ACX has fallen by about 10%.