Evercrest Technologies, the company behind KelpDAO, filed a civil claim in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on September 25 against LayerZero Labs Ltd., LayerZero Labs Canada Inc. and LayerZero co-founder Bryan Pellegrino.
The case arises from the April rsETH bridge exploit, which involved 116,500 rsETH valued at about $292 million at the time. According to the claim, the allegations include negligent misrepresentation, negligence and defamation and concern the Unichain bridge’s security configuration and LayerZero’s role in reviewing and endorsing it, as reported by Decrypt.
Pellegrino called the lawsuit meritless and said LayerZero will defend it in Vancouver; the allegations have not been established in court.
Evercrest files British Columbia claims
According to The Block, Evercrest's September 25 notice of civil claim names LayerZero Labs Ltd., LayerZero Labs Canada Inc. and Pellegrino as defendants. It seeks to advance claims of negligent misrepresentation, negligence and defamation.
Pellegrino rejected the case in comments reported by The Token Press. He said both he and LayerZero would defend the matter in Vancouver.
The filing places the conduct and statements surrounding the bridge's security design at the center of the dispute, rather than treating the exploit solely as a technical incident.
KelpDAO alleges LayerZero approved 1-of-1 DVN
The exploited Unichain bridge used a 1-of-1 decentralized verifier network (DVN) configuration. That configuration defines the verification arrangement for the cross-chain bridge.
KelpDAO alleges that LayerZero reviewed and endorsed the setup and did not disclose its associated security risks, according to Decrypt.
Available reporting does not establish how the court will assess Evercrest’s claims or LayerZero’s defense.
LayerZero incident report cited compromised infrastructure
The lawsuit concerns an April 18 attack that resulted in the loss of 116,500 rsETH. LayerZero valued the assets at approximately $292 million at the time in its May 18 external incident report.
LayerZero's report attributed the attack to compromised infrastructure and manipulated RPC responses. It said those responses caused LayerZero's DVN to falsely verify a cross-chain transaction.
That account differs from the thrust of Evercrest's suit, which focuses on whether LayerZero had reviewed and endorsed the verifier setup and whether risks were disclosed before the exploit.
