MONTREAL — Coinsquare’s former chief technology officer has filed a lawsuit against the company for wrongful dismissal and breach of contract, The Logic has learned, the fifth employee—and fourth senior executive—to sue the Toronto-based crypto exchange since 2019.

Simon Palmer—who joined the company in January 2019 after it acquired his startup TipCoin—alleges, among other things, that Coinsquare breached its agreement with him by not paying out a 2020 bonus and that it withheld compensation he was owed after he was fired in April, according to court documents.

Palmer is seeking damages of at least $945,833. He left Coinsquare in June, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in July.

Coinsquare and attorneys for Palmer declined to comment. Coinsquare said in an Aug. 5 court filing that it intends to defend itself against the suit.

The lawsuit underscores how Coinsquare’s executive turmoil has continued even after a tumultuous period at the relatively young company. Palmer is the latest to sue the company, after its former chief financial officer, chief operating officer and chief digital and growth officer all filed lawsuits between May and August 2019.

That last executive, Thomas Jankowski, as well as a fourth former employee, Matthew Nowak, made similar allegations that Coinsquare retaliated against them for raising concerns about practices at the company.

The employee lawsuits are also just one front on which Coinsquare, one of a handful of crypto exchanges founded in Canada, has faced legal challenges in the last several years.

As part of a July 2020 settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission, Coinsquare admitted to faking more than 90 per cent of its reported trading volumes, misleading clients about trading data on the platform and taking a reprisal against an internal whistleblower who raised concerns internally about the issue. The exchange’s founder and president Virgile Rostand, CEO Cole Diamond and chief compliance officer Felix Mazer, all agreed to resign and pay a total of more than $2 million in fines in connection with the incident.

Palmer’s lawsuit doesn’t specify why he was fired from Coinsquare. He continued to work for the exchange for more than a month after then-CEO Stacey Hoisak told him the board of directors had decided to terminate his employment, according to the suit.

As Coinsquare’s chief technology officer, Palmer oversaw between 40 and 55 employees, or roughly half of the company’s staff. Palmer has since been replaced by Daljit Bhartt, who was previously an advisor to the company, according to Bhartt’s LinkedIn profile.

While Coinsquare has received backing from investment firms like Canaccord Genuity and Cormark Securities, Mogo, a Vancouver-based fintech, has been increasing its stake in the company in recent months by purchasing shares from existing investors. Between April and June, Mogo paid $110 million to acquire about 39 per cent of Coinsquare, along with option and warrant rights.

Despite its challenges, Coinsquare’s business is growing. Its revenue for April hit a record $8 million as cryptocurrencies reached new highs, with an EBITDA margin of more than 50 per cent, Mogo said in a May press release.

The company recently appointed a new CEO, Martin Piszel, who told The Logic in July that he hopes to expand Coinsquare’s product offerings to include stock and foreign-exchange trading for retail customers. Mogo is also developing a stock-trading app that is expected to launch in late 2021.