Vanbex Founders Sue Former Contractor for False Statements That Firm Was a Scam

Canadian blockchain firm Vanbex has filed a lawsuit against its former contractor for spreading false and defamatory statements about the firm, as Vanbex announced on May 1.

On March 14, Canadian police froze personal assets of the firm’s founders Kevin Hobbs and Lisa Cheng due to an allegedly fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO).

According to court documents, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) determined that Vanbex founders Kevin Hobbs and Lisa Cheng were defrauding investors by offering investment in its token Etherparty (FUEL), while intending to use investor funds for personal benefit, rather than developing products.

Following the reports, Vanbex’s founder Cheng told Cointelegraph that the firm knows with certainty that false claims by their former contractor “have created files with several government agencies,” adding that business accounts have not been frozen.

According to the lawsuit, Vanbex’s former engineering contractor Kip Warner published and made false and defamatory statements such as claiming that Vanbex was a shell company, and its founders were operating an illegal business. Warner allegedly sent the false data to his associate in the Vancouver Police Department and the RCMP, aiming to harm Hobbs and Cheng, as well as the reputation of their company Vanbex, the lawsuit notes.

The lawsuit further alleges that Warner is a known conspiracy theorist, and encouraged the Vancouver Police Department and the RCMP to investigate Vanbex while knowing that the provided information was false and misleading.

Recently, the Southern District of New York Attorney charged an Arizona man and Israeli woman for allegedly shadow banking crypto firms.