Former Predicate Labs Executives Sued in Delaware Over Alleged Contract Breaches and Trade Secret Misuse
On Thursday, April 16, 2026, Matic Network, Decentralized Networks, Inc., and Predicate Labs, Inc. filed a complaint in the Delaware Court of Chancery against Daniel Lubarov and Brendan Farmer, former executives of Predicate Labs (collectively, the Company), alleging breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, and breach of fiduciary duty. The plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of $250 million.
The complaint alleges that Lubarov and Farmer engaged in a scheme of self-dealing and competitive misconduct after selling Predicate Labs to the Company in a transaction valued at approximately $400 million. Matic Network, Decentralized Networks, and Predicate Labs allege that the defendants extracted unearned milestone and service provider payments, diverted their efforts to competing ventures, recruited company personnel to other ventures, and stole confidential, proprietary, and trade secret documents.
According to the complaint, Matic Network (BVI) Ltd. and Decentralized Networks, Inc. entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Predicate Labs and the defendants on November 26, 2021, through which the Company acquired all issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of Predicate Labs. Following the acquisition, Farmer served as Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Predicate Labs, and both defendants held leadership roles within the Company, responsible for cutting-edge ZK development efforts.
The SPA was designed to compensate the defendants for their continued service to Polygon with payments in USD Coin (USCDC) vesting over 36 months and to incentivize them to achieve certain Technology and Adoption Milestones. The plaintiffs allege that certain Milestone Events were never met, but the defendants nonetheless conspired to process large portions of the Milestone Payments.
The complaint further alleges that Lubarov breached his Non-Compete, Non-Solicitation, and Confidentiality Agreement by secretly working for a competitor, Lita, on a competitive product called Valida. Farmer is accused of breaching his Restrictive Covenant Agreement by serving as an advisor to Irreducible (formerly known as Ulvetanna) and offering advisory services to Succinct Labs in exchange for equity in Succinct Labs.
The plaintiffs claim that the defendants’ actions forced the Company to enter into commercial arrangements with Irreducible, Succinct Labs, and Lita to obtain ZK-proving capabilities. The complaint states that the defendants continued as employees with the Company until 2025, and that Farmer stole hundreds of confidential, proprietary, and trade secret documents on July 15, 2025, the day before he resigned.
The plaintiffs are alleging several causes of action, including trade secret misappropriation, breach of contract, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, breach of fiduciary duty of loyalty, indemnification, and unjust enrichment.
They are seeking actual damages, special and exemplary damages, an accounting and restitution of unlawful proceeds, an order directing the defendants to protect the Company’s trade secrets, an order requiring the defendants to identify all persons to whom they have disclosed confidential information, an order prohibiting the defendants from future breaches of their Restrictive Covenant Agreements, pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, the Company’s costs, costs of court, and the Company’s reasonable attorneys’ fees.
Please contact BlockTribune for access to a copy of this filing.
