New York, New York [Feb 9, 2026] — Anand Venkateswaran has reached an agreement with Portkey Technologies Pte Ltd. and Vignesh Sundaresan to resolve the court action filed against him in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Portkey Technologies Pte Ltd. and Vignesh Sundaresan v. Anand Venkateswaran, Case №23-cv-05074 (S.D.N.Y.). The Court entered a Consent Judgement in the action on [Jan 30, 2026]. To avoid the burden, expense, and distraction of continued litigation, and without admitting liability or wrongdoing, Mr. Venkateswaran releases the following statement:
- From August 2017 to February 2022, Mr. Venkateswaran was an independent contractor to Portkey who handled marketing and communications for various NFT-related projects, and was not a partner of Portkey or Mr. Sundaresan.
- Mr. Sundaresan exclusively purchased the “the Beeple (b. 1981), EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS” NFT.
- Mr. Sundaresan made all decisions regarding the purchase of this and any other NFT for Portkey or Metapurse, and Mr. Venkateswaran did not have any decision-making or management authority over those purchases.
Additionally, in accordance with the terms of the parties’ agreement and the Consent Judgment, Mr. Venkateswaran has withdrawn certain prior public statements and will take additional action to update or remove other public statements to better reflect his independent contractor role with Portkey; he has also made a settlement payment to Portkey of an undisclosed sum. This statement is made to conclude the lawsuit.
English
