As an uninformed observer, here is a possible sequence of events that sounds somewhat plausible based on what we know so far:

  * sparkfun employee engages in some shitty behavior (maybe harassment, maybe photoshops) toward adafruit CEO 
  * adafruit engages sparkfun to ask them to put a stop to it
  * employee leaves sparkfun
  * employee continues shitty behavior
  * adafruit continues to bug sparkfun about behavior 
  * sparkfun now has no control over employee, wants to wash their hands of it
  * adafruit isn’t happy with this resolution, continues to push it, interprets inaction as tacit approval
  * sparkfun cites CoC about private matters, inappropriate messages
  * HN speculates :)