This Man Says He Was Screwed Out Of One-Third Of Super-Hot Startup Yik Yak By His Frat Brothers

Yik Yak and its co-founders Stephen Brooks Buffington and Tyler Steven Droll are being sued by a fellow Furman University alumni, Joseph Warstler, who says he helped cofound the increasingly popular anonymous gossip application.

Yik Yak is reportedly raising a new ~$75 million round of financing right now. It’s maintained its position as a top ten social networking app in the App Store for the past few weeks.

Wastler was a fraternity brother of Buffington and Droll, Kappa Alpha, who says he was given one-third of the company. Buffington was Wastler’s “big brother” in the fraternity.

Buffington and Droll allegedly offered to buy out his one-third stake. Wastler says he refused, and then Droll and Buffington created a new company without him.

From the complaint:

“Plaintiff, Buffington, and Droll partnered up to work and pool money together to develop and market various mobile applications including Yik Yak, a social media mobile application that allows people to post anonymously to other users within a 1.5 mile radius. The three of them agreed, in writing and orally, to split ownership of the Yik Yak partnership into 1/3 each. After acknowledging in writing Plaintiff’s ownership interest in the Yik Yak partnership and unsuccessfully attempting to buy Plaintiff out, Buffington and Droll did the unthinkable: they brazenly kicked Plaintiff out of the partnership and claimed that Plaintiff owned nothing in Yik Yak. To cover things up and erase any evidence of Plaintiff’s ownership, Buffington and Droll dissolved the company under which they and Plaintiff co-developed and co-owned Yik Yak, and transferred the company’s only asset—the Yik Yak application—into a newly-created company.”

It’s very similar to the tale of Reggie Brown and Snapchat. In fact, Warstler has hired Brown’s lawyer, Luan Tran, to represent him in the Yik Yak case.

The complaint, which was filed today by Tran’s team, includes paperwork that shows the intial company Warstler, Buffington, and Droll allegedly created together, Locust Engineering.

Here’s the complaint, below.

This is breaking news. More to come, stay tuned.

Complaint With Exhibits (Warstler v. Yik Yak)

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