PANews July 4th news, according to Cointelegraph, investors in the cryptocurrency project The Phoenix have accused current leader Daniel Ianello of being involved in a scam and have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Tennessee. The plaintiffs claim that after Ianello took over Phoenix Community Capital in October 2022, he shut down the smart contracts and transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars in investor funds, while also deleting Discord posts and earlier versions of the website.
Ianello has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that as a resident of Michigan, he has no jurisdictional connection to Tennessee, and denies participating in any securities sales. The project had promised to access investment opportunities unavailable to the retail market through a 'large community asset pool' and to distribute profits to token holders.