Crypto venture capital giant Polychain has accused its former employee Niraj Pant of reaching a backroom deal with portfolio company Eclipse Labs that violated the fund’s policies, according to BlockBeats. Former Eclipse Labs CEO Neel Somani quietly allocated 5% of Pant’s upcoming Eclipse crypto token in September 2022, just days after Pant instructed Polychain to lead the company’s $6 million pre-seed round of financing.

The final allocation was reduced to 1.33%, which is worth about $13.3 million based on the fully diluted valuation of its most recent private investment round, which, according to sources close to Eclipse Labs, put the fully diluted valuation of its tokens at $1 billion.

Polychain became aware of the financial relationship between Eclipse and Niraj Pant only after he left the company. Polychain has strict policies and procedures regarding employees serving in advisory roles. After Mr. Pant left Polychain, the company discovered that he had violated its policies and conducted an investigation.