Plooto co-founder Serguei Kloubkov has launched legal action against the Toronto-based payments company he helped build, alleging he was sidelined and ultimately removed in breach of long-standing shareholder rights. In court filings and a public statement on LinkedIn, Kloubkov claims Plooto and its current board, including CEO John McLane, acted in a way that unfairly disregarded his interests as a shareholder and director. The allegations center on internal governance decisions taken after the attempted return of fellow co-founder and former CEO Hamed Abbasi to the board of directors.
Background on Plooto and Its Founders
Plooto was founded in 2015 by Abbasi and Kloubkov to help small and medium-sized businesses automate accounts payable and receivable, integrating with tools such as QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite. The company has grown into a notable Canadian fintech player, serving more than 10,000 customers and employing about 120 people across Canada and the United States as of late 2024. Its platform is positioned as an all-in-one cash flow and payments automation solution for SMBs, accountants, and bookkeepers.
Details of the Legal Claim
According to the lawsuit, the dispute traces back to a unanimous shareholder agreement negotiated as part of Plooto’s 2022 Series B financing, which Kloubkov argues preserved specific board and shareholder rights for the co-founders. He claims this agreement should have allowed him to reinstate Abbasi to Plooto’s board after Abbasi was acquitted in a sexual assault case earlier in 2025. Instead, the filing alleges Abbasi was briefly elected and then swiftly removed from the board in August, in a move Kloubkov characterizes as contrary to that agreement and to his reasonable expectations as a major shareholder.
Allegations Around Retaliation and Dilution
Kloubkov further alleges that his own removal as chief technology officer followed soon after Abbasi’s ouster from the board and was carried out “without cause.” He argues in court documents that this decision amounted to “clear retaliation” for his efforts to bring Abbasi back into the company’s governance structure. The lawsuit also claims Plooto pursued an acquisition primarily designed to dilute his ownership stake, a transaction he says lacked a valid business purpose and was instead aimed at marginalizing him within the cap table.
Personal Statement and Relief Sought
In his LinkedIn post, Kloubkov describes the legal step as a last resort after what he characterizes as unsuccessful attempts to resolve the dispute amicably. He recalls nearly a decade spent building Plooto from “the very first idea sketched on a whiteboard” to a platform serving over 13,000 active businesses monthly, and says enforcing his rights as co-founder and board member is now his only remaining option. Through the courts, he is seeking a declaration that Plooto and its directors conducted business in a way that was oppressive or unfairly disregarded his interests, an order voiding the shareholder vote that removed Abbasi and reinstating him as director, or alternatively a buyout of his shares along with coverage of his legal costs.
None of the allegations outlined in Kloubkov’s lawsuit have been proven in court, and Plooto and its board have not publicly filed their detailed response to the claims. The case now places one of Canada’s better-known fintech scaleups under legal and governance scrutiny at a time when it has been working to scale its payments automation business across North America. As proceedings unfold, the outcome is likely to be closely watched by founders, investors, and corporate boards that rely on shareholder agreements to balance control, accountability, and long-term alignment inside high-growth private companies.