Chill Brands Group PLC on Monday said its chief operating officer and chief commercial officer tried to ‘defraud’ the company by transferring the company’s website domain name and helping themselves to company funds.
Chill Brands operates the chill.com e-commerce website for nicotine-free vapour products and other wellness and recreational products, offering both its own products and those of third parties.
Its shares have been suspended from trading on the London Main Market since Monday last week. They were last quoted at 2.15 pence, down from a peak of 98.00p three years ago.
The board on Monday said COO Trevor Taylor and CCO Antonio Russo exercised executive management control over the company during May, following the suspension of Chief Executive Officer Callum Sommerton.
During that month, Taylor and Russo transferred the chill.com domain name from the company to themselves ‘without board authority or knowledge’, Chill Brands said. The company said it has initiated actions to recover ownership of the domain.
Chill Brands said the business carried out by the company on the chill.com domain has not been interrupted, but it isn’t yet in a position to provide a full trading and financial update.
Chill Brands also said it discovered last week that payments totalling almost $400,000 were made from the bank account of its US subsidiary to Russo and Taylor’s personal US bank accounts, again without board approval.
‘The company’s board is seeking a proper explanation from Trevor Taylor and Antonio Russo for these payments, and the recovery of these funds through all legal means available,’ Chill Brands said.
Non-Executive Chair Harry Chathli said: ‘We are totally shocked by the extent of destructive behaviour and actions of Mr Taylor and Mr Russo. It is evident that they have not acted in good faith and their actions have been motivated by self-interest rather than for the benefit of the company or its shareholders.’
The company said it also is checking whether any professional advisers assisted Taylor and Russo.
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