Neel Somani, the founder of Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Eclipse has departed his role as CEO amid sexual misconduct allegations.
On May 16, Eclipse Labs said on X that “effective immediately, Vijay Chetty will be named CEO of Eclipse Labs, taking over for Neel Somani who is departing.” It did not share the reason for why Somani left.
Chetty, Eclipse’s chief growth officer until today, has held leadership positions at Uniswap Labs, dYdX Trading, and Ripple Labs in addition to having investing experience at BlackRock, Eclipse added.
Somani said on May 9 that he was “temporarily reducing” his role as a “public face” for the firm saying that “serious allegations about sexual misconduct” were made against him on X — which he has denied.
Somani said he “never sexually assaulted or harassed any woman” and would “work to clear my name and defend myself.”
At the time, Eclipse said it “takes allegations against our CEO, Neel Somani, seriously and believes in the importance of truth.”
The firm completed a $50 million Series A round led by venture firms Hack VC and Placeholder in March.
Hack VC posted to X on May 16 that it was “deeply troubled to learn about the serious allegations made recently against [Eclipse] founder Neel Somani.”
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It added it worked to “correct the situation, including urging Neel to resign, and we are pleased to see that happen.”
“We do not tolerate sexual harassment or misconduct in any form at Hack VC, and we hold our founders and portfolio companies to the same high standards. To be perfectly clear: the alleged behavior in question is unacceptable, full stop,” it added.
Eclipse and Somani did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Update (May 16, 5:10 am UTC): This article has been updated to add information throughout.