Papaya Global CEO Eynat Guez issues defamation warning to investor Dovi Frances
Papaya Global CEO Eynat Guez issues defamation warning to investor Dovi Frances
Guez is demanding a public apology and clarification from Frances for his claims that she endangered the company's funds by transferring them to the now-collapsed Silicon Valley Bank
Eynat Guez, the co-founder and CEO of Papaya Global, sent a warning letter to investor Dovi Frances, founder of venture capital firm Group 11, on Monday, threatening to file a defamation lawsuit. Guez demands a public apology and clarification from Frances for his claims that she endangered the company's funds by transferring them to the now-collapsed Silicon Valley Bank. The warning letter also states that any funds received through the lawsuit will be contributed to the protest against the judicial overhaul and in support of democracy. Frances has yet to respond to the letter.
The letter addresses a series of statements made by Frances against Guez. In January, Guez tweeted from her personal account that Papaya Global would withdraw funds from Israel if the judicial overhaul proceeded as planned.
Around a month and a half later, after SVB's collapse, Frances published a post in which he claimed that there are heads of Israeli unicorns that are "very determined and verbal entrepreneurs who transferred billions of dollars there (SVB) recently as part of a move to withdraw funds from Israel in order to express a position and fight the reform.” In doing so, Guez claims that he linked her actions to the collapsing bank and even claimed that she encouraged others to deposit their money in SVB.
In a subsequent interview, Frances referred to Guez's statement as "unfortunate" and claimed she did not consult with anyone before making her decision.
Furthermore, Guez's letter alleges that Frances misrepresented himself as a member of Papaya's management, which he is not, and that he blamed Guez's decisions for investor losses. However, in reality, Frances's fund has already made significant profits from its investment in Papaya and even sold some holdings at a substantial profit.
