Scott Purcell resigns as Fortress Trust CEO after Ripple sale collapse
Scott Purcell has resigned as chief exec (CEO) of Fortress Trust after its proposed acquisition by Ripple fell apart, Fortune has reported. Rich Hauschild, who was previously chief operating officer at iTrustCapital, will succeed him.
Fortress Trust recently suffered a third-party vendor hack, leading to a statement in which it claimed that “there is no loss of funds.”
Ripple, at the time of the acquisition, disclosed that there was actually a loss of funds, noting that it was “in a position to act quickly to step in and make customers whole.”
However, the acquisition fell apart weeks later, with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse claiming that “the Fortress team is incredibly talented,” but despite this talent, the acquisition just didn’t make sense anymore.
Purcell has a complicated history in the crypto industry, having previously served as CEO of Prime Trust and former Prime Trust subsidiary Banq.
Prime Trust claimed in its bankruptcy that while Purcell was CEO, the company developed a multi-million-dollar shortfall of customer assets.
Read more: Ripple can’t save Fortress after all
Banq was eventually spun out and has alleged in lawsuits and bankruptcy that Purcell “unlawfully transferred the vast majority of the debtor’s employees, trade secrets, intellectual property, technology, business opportunities, and equipment, including computer systems containing the debtor’s electronic records relating to, among other things, its business assets, operations, proprietary information, and research and development efforts.” These assets were claimed to be used to start Fortress Trust.
Purcell’s LinkedIn says that he is now the founder of a ‘stealth startup’ and hopefully this time it will not be a payment processor that loses customer assets.
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