Update April 12: Intrepid Studios founder Steven Sharif has provided the following statement in response to the latest allegations from YouTuber NefasQS: “NefasQS has been fed false and defamatory information by individuals with an axe to grind, in an effort to litigate this dispute in the public domain alongside our lawsuit already pending in federal court. Rather than verify those claims, he has chosen to repeat them, acting as a mouthpiece to advance a narrative that drives clicks and views, with disregard for basic journalistic standards. The selective presentation of information is intentional and serves to create a false narrative.
As to the broader claims:
– There was no misappropriation of Kickstarter funds whatsoever.
– The project has been funded over many years through a combination of sources, including substantial personal capital.
– Assertions regarding “lavish lifestyle” or personal misuse of company funds are categorically false.
An examination of the facts through the judicial process has already revealed that the parties behind these claims orchestrated an unlawful foreclosure to take control of Intrepid’s assets from the people who built Ashes of Creation, with the intent to exploit those assets for their own benefit. In the process, hundreds of developers were terminated without advanced notice, pay, or benefits, in violation of applicable law.
These issues are being addressed through the legal process. Tomorrow, we will be filing additional materials in federal court that set out the evidence and further demonstrate the nature and intent behind the conduct that led to the destruction of Intrepid.”
Original Story: Kickstarter MMO Ashes of Creation has produced a deluge of drama since the whole team working on it was laid off and development ended two months ago. Investor Jason Caramanis accused Intrepid Studios founder Steven Sharif of taking millions meant for the studio and spending it for himself.
NefasQS claims to have “obtained and processed the entire Intrepid Studios general ledger from 2015 to 2026.” Everything discussed in the video has been compiled into a Google Sheets document and shared in the video description. In the video, this data is used to allege that Steven Sharif indeed used money intended for Ashes of Creation on a private chef, cigars, trading card websites, and so on.
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“We have a staggering [over $12 million] taken out from Intrepid Studios which are not completely accounted for based on the QuickBooks data that we have,” NefasQS said in the video. They highlight everything from over $700 spent on Fortnite (for R&D purposes, apparently) to tens of thousands spent at various historical auctions. The video also alleges over $80,000 were paid to Gore Oil Company, which was the deed owner of the mansion sold to Sharif and his husband John Moore in 2020.
The private chef bit is particularly interesting, as NefasQS claims the details align with anecdotes they’ve heard from people who worked at Intrepid. “According to various former employees, there was a private chef hired for the company, but they never saw the chef at the workplace, the chef only cooked for John and Steven at their home. Employees were instead promised that the chef would cook for them, or that the chef couldn’t cook at the workplace due to a permit issue with the commercial kitchen.”
While NefasQS said in the video that the ledger was “verified with a plethora of sources and interviews with former employees,” it’s important to note that the implications of the video, the full extent of Caramanis’ accusations (and for that matter, Sharif’s defense where he blames the board of directors for Ashes’ unceremonious end and denies any misconduct) are difficult to verify.
In a pinned comment on the recent video, NefasQS said, “Someone already filed a privacy complaint against this video, just a heads up but we will be disputing it. Someone also reported my Reddit account from our community subreddit to the admins,” with another link to the ledger.