After selling off all of his shares of Overstock's mutual stock, one-time CEO Patrick Byrne reportedly even so holds a major stake in the company in the form of Serial A-1 Preferred Stock.

Byrne still owns 63,775 shares of preferred stock

Overstock's 2022 detect of special meeting and proxy statement, filed with the United States Securities and Substitution Commission (SEC) on Nov. 22, shows that the company'due south former CEO still holds 63,775 shares of Series A-one Preferred Stock.

In August, Byrne announced that he was stepping down as CEO of Overstock, citing his controversial human relationship with Maria Butina every bit the most important reason for cutting ties with Overstock.

Butina, alleged to be a Russian agent, is currently serving 18 months behind bars for having infiltrated powerful political circles in the U.s. at the direction of the Russian regime.

Byrne's cashout

In September, Byrne cashed out nearly 4.eight million Overstock (OSTK) shares, which deemed for more than than 13% of the company and was worth around $ninety million at the fourth dimension. According to a filing with the U.S SEC, the former CEO had sold his shares at lower and lower prices ranging from $21.84 on Sept. xvi to $16.32 on Sept. 18.

In the same month, a class activeness complaint was filed in Utah that accuses Overstock.com, Byrne and sometime CFO Greg Iverson of securities fraud. The complaint alleged that Byrne designed Overstock.com'due south digital asset-based dividend every bit a means of punishing short sellers. The complaint stated:

"While defendant Byrne had previously, at different times, launched into public tirades over short selling and naked short selling, the tZERO Dividend was his undercover plot to finally obtain hegemony over them — and it almost worked."

Overstock opens blockchain R&D centre in Ireland

Despite the fact that Overstock finds itself in the midst of controversy, at the beginning of Oct, the e-commerce giant appear that information technology had opened a blockchain research and development (R&D) center in Ireland. The business firm'south R&D center is located in "IDA's flagship North West business park in Sligo" where information technology hopes to brand its 100th Irish hire before the finish of 2022.

Updated 19:45 UTC Dec. 5: This story has been corrected to refer to Byrne'due south holdings as preferred stock in Overstock rather than stake in tZero.