Crypto Founder Exonerated of Sexual Assault Accusation That Ontario Judge Called 'a Ruse'

Trevor Koverko, founder and CEO of security token startup Polymath, has been fully exonerated and charges of sexual assault have been dismissed by the Ontario Court of Justice, court documents show.

In legal filings shared with CoinDesk , Judge Louise Botham found that “the complainant’s misrepresentation was not a bare assertion but a convincing, extended ruse, documented on video.” The filings also noted that other evidence included text messages discussing the setup in advance of the events.

Koverko had been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a minor on March 14, 2021, by Toronto police, a spokesperson for the department, Caroline de Kloet, told CoinDesk at the time.

Chris Housser, Polymath’s other founder and interim CEO, said at the time that Koverko resigned from his role at Polymath on Feb. 8, 2021, well before the arrest.

Koverko and Housser founded Polymath in 2017 to support security tokens on its native Polymesh blockchain (though the token issuance originally operated on Ethereum). The Toronto-based company raised $59 million through an initial coin offering in 2018.

Before working in the blockchain industry, Koverko was a fifth round draft pick of the New York Rangers hockey team.

UPDATE (September 20, 2022, 15:47 UTC): This article and its headline have been substantially revised to include information about Koverko’s exoneration.