A summary of what Ernie appears to have done, what people are accusing him of, and what we still need to find out. This page is written so that anyone — even without a crypto background — can understand the situation.
Cryptocurrency is digital money that exists on a network called a blockchain. Ethereum (ETH) is one of the most well-known cryptocurrencies — 1 ETH has been worth anywhere from ~$1,000 to ~$5,000 over the past few years. A token is a new type of digital coin that someone creates on top of an existing blockchain like Ethereum. A presale is when a token's creators sell it to early investors before it goes public — like buying stock before an IPO. A smart contract is the computer code that controls a token — it determines who can move the money, how it’s distributed, and whether it can be drained by the people who created it. A rug pull is when the creators of a token take all the investors' money and disappear. Twitter/X is a social media platform (formerly called Twitter, now called X) — the "@" handles you'll see throughout this document are usernames on that platform.
Validator — in a blockchain, a validator is a person or computer that helps verify transactions (like a notary public). To become one, you "stake" (lock up) a large amount of the blockchain's tokens as a deposit — you earn ongoing rewards for doing the verification work. Having a validator is normal; the issue here is whether Ernie used stolen investor money to buy his validators, and whether the project's code contains hidden functions that let certain people drain all staked funds. OTC deal means "over-the-counter" — a private sale of tokens directly between two people, rather than through a public exchange. This is sometimes done legitimately to avoid crashing the token's price, but can also be used to move money quietly.
Ernest "Ducky" Fontes served as the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of a cryptocurrency project called Zombie Inu ($ZINU). It launched in October 2021, during a period when hundreds of novelty crypto tokens (often named after dogs — "Shiba Inu," "Floki," etc.) were being created and attracting speculative investors. ZINU had a few things going for it initially: a celebrity tie-in (Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys recorded a song for the project), a collection of digital art pieces called NFTs, and a team that claimed to include people from Amazon, Google, and other major companies.
The team promised to build a video game, an intellectual property licensing platform, and a social network for the community. None of those things were ever built or delivered. The project raised significant money from investors, but both of the project's official websites (wearezinu.com and zombieinu.io) are now completely unrelated gambling websites — a strong sign the project has been abandoned. The token itself is now worth effectively nothing.
Two independent security audits of the project's code flagged a major concern: the team kept full control of the money. The code contained special functions (called ManualSwap and ManualSend) that allowed the people running the project to pull out all the invested money at any time, with no oversight or approval needed. The team never gave up this control, despite auditors recommending they do so.
After ZINU lost almost all its value, the same team launched a second project called MainNetZ ($NETZ) in December 2023. This was presented as a new type of blockchain (the underlying technology for cryptocurrencies). Investors who had money in ZINU were told to move their funds over to this new project. MainNetZ's token briefly reached a high of $0.16 in February 2024, but has since fallen 97% and is now nearly worthless.
Then, in October 2025, MainNetZ was rebranded as a third project called Splendor ($SPLD). Again, investors were asked to migrate their money. Splendor was marketed as an "AI-powered, quantum-resistant blockchain" — buzzwords designed to attract new investors. It peaked at $9.97 in February 2026 and has since crashed 96% to about $0.40. Splendor's marketing materials make no mention of ZINU or MainNetZ, as if those projects never existed.
We confirmed that Splendor Labs posts from the same Twitter account as MainNetZ (@mainnetz) — proving they are the same operation despite presenting themselves as separate companies.
This sequence — ZINU (2021) → MainNetZ (2023) → Splendor (2025) — is a well-known pattern in cryptocurrency fraud. Each time, existing investors are told to move their money into a new project. Each new project briefly increases in value, then collapses. The code in each project allows the creators to withdraw investor funds without permission. In May 2025, the CEO of a cryptocurrency called SafeMoon was convicted and sentenced to over 8 years in prison for running an almost identical scheme — creating "locked" investment pools that he could secretly drain.
The Splendor/MainNetZ operation sits within a network of entities that raises serious questions. Todor Ivanov is simultaneously the CEO of White Rock Group (a Panama-based investment fund) AND the Founder/CEO of Splendor Labs — and White Rock is the only named investor in Splendor's claimed $50 million startup funding round. In other words, the person who runs Splendor also controls the only fund investing in it, and is calling it third-party investment. Only $4.5 million of the claimed $50 million has actually been committed — the other $45.5 million is unaccounted for, and no SEC filing exists for the fundraise.
Ivanov and Ralph Ledee (a Caribbean spirits magnate worth approximately $60 million) are both listed on the team page of a company called Majestic P.L.T. in Fort Lauderdale. However, Majestic P.L.T. is not registered as a legal entity anywhere we can find — not in Florida, not federally. Its listed address (1314 East Las Olas Blvd) is a PostScan Mail virtual mailbox ($10/month), not a real office. Its claimed parent company ‘B&L International’ also has no corporate footprint. Despite this, the website lists real, verifiable executives — a former American Airlines VP and a former Cheney Brothers COO — alongside unverifiable ones, lending an appearance of legitimacy.
Splendor Labs SA claims Swiss incorporation, but cannot be found in Swiss commercial registries. White Rock Group has no SEC or FINRA registration despite claiming to manage venture capital. During the migration from MainNetZ to Splendor, the ZINU team disclosed that the original programmer was ‘no longer available’ and the code cannot be paused.
Separate from the project-level accusations, Ernie borrowed about $5,000–$6,000 worth of cryptocurrency from a community member named Brian (specifically, 3.2222 ETH) around August 2023. The money was for rent. Text messages from Ernie's own phone show him acknowledging the debt and repeatedly promising to pay Brian back, but after more than eight months, he had only returned about $600 worth. When Brian pressed him, Ernie said he had no working credit cards and no income outside of the crypto projects. Ernie later sent Brian a mocking sticker, undermining any claim of good faith.
Ernie also gave his accusers two specific deadlines for repayment: he said he would pay them back "when Splendor started trading" (it started trading in October 2025), and that if that didn't work, he would "pay by the end of January" 2026. Both deadlines passed without payment, and then Ernie went silent.
A group of investors also claims Ernie ran a fake investment offering called "StableMine" through a project called $FRENZ, allegedly collecting over $30,000 that was never returned. A separate project called $MINE held a private sale in September 2024, charging $5,000 per person to buy in. It was promoted by a YouTube personality named Austin Hilton (who has 235,000 subscribers and a history of promoting questionable crypto projects). $MINE never launched — the money was collected, but the token was never created. One investor named "Future" says he personally lost over $5,000 and also did unpaid work for the project, calling it "all my life savings."
On February 23, 2026, a 19-minute phone call between Ernie and his main accuser (@SPLITweb3, a British man) was recorded and posted publicly on Twitter. In the call:
The full transcript of this call, with speakers identified, is available on the Evidence page.
Starting in December 2025, at least 8–10 people claiming financial losses launched an organized online campaign against Ernie. Three dedicated Twitter accounts were created solely to attack him: @SPLITweb3 (which has posted over 5,400 times), @basedlegendman, and @AFirstNameFrenZ.
While the campaign has produced some genuine evidence (text messages, cryptocurrency wallet addresses, code from the smart contracts), it has also crossed far beyond any legitimate grievance into behavior that is likely criminal in its own right:
A document was circulated that appeared to be a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice, claiming that Ernest Fontes pled guilty to possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in federal court in January 2021. The document described 16,000+ illegal files on a laptop and 349,726 on an external drive.
This document is a forgery. An exhaustive search of PACER (the federal court records system) for the Western District of Texas found zero cases involving Ernest Fontes in 2020–2021. No case, no filing, no record of any kind. Combined with the absence of any matching DOJ press release, news article, or public record, this conclusively establishes the document as fabricated. One person in the community had already flagged it as fake: "You tank your own credibility posting clown shit like that."
Fabricating a DOJ press release to falsely accuse someone of child pornography offenses is extreme defamation and potentially a federal crime. This significantly strengthens any legal action against the harassers.
The following people have publicly stated that Ernie owes them money or that they lost money because of his actions. Some have provided evidence; others have only made public statements.
| Person | What They're Claiming | Amount | What Evidence They Have |
|---|---|---|---|
| @SPLITweb3 British man, real name unknown. Primary accuser. | Ernie stole money through a fake cryptocurrency presale called "StableMine" | $21,000 | Claims to have wallet tracking proof and an 18-page report. Has not released the full report publicly. |
| Brian @OnChainBrian on Twitter | Loaned Ernie cryptocurrency for rent money; Ernie never paid it back | 3.2222 ETH (~$5,000–$6,000) | Strong evidence: text messages from Ernie's own phone acknowledging the debt and promising to pay |
| KENJiLLA @Kenjilla618 on Twitter | Lost money across multiple crypto projects connected to Ernie's team | ~$100,000 | Self-reported. Says the FBI is already involved. Has known the team "for years." |
| "Future" @_FutureLegend on Twitter | Lost money in the $MINE presale; also did unpaid work for the project | $5,000+ | Public tweets: "Ernest owes me over $5k." Says he "lost all my life savings" and did free work. |
| Danny Known from Telegram only | Part of the group demanding repayment | Part of the $21K group total | Threatened to contact Ernie's future employers |
| "Steve" Known from Telegram and phone call | Investor in the crypto projects | Unknown | Named in the recorded phone call as part of the $21K group |
| "Steggles" Known from phone call only | Investor who may not know the full picture yet | Unknown | The caller says Steggles "doesn't know" the extent of what happened |
| @TheFarrow | "True scammer. Bad karma will catch up with him." | Unknown | Public reply on the phone call post |
| @splendorrelease | "Huge f***ing scammer" | Unknown | Twitter handle suggests a direct connection to the Splendor project |
| @BetoGurmilan | "Sorry you're STILL dealing with his BS" | Unknown | Multiple sympathetic replies across different posts |
| Others (unnamed) | @SPLITweb3 says "hundreds of thousands" have been stolen across all victims | Unknown | Claims to have an 18-page report with a victim list showing exact amounts |
Before anyone can fully understand Ernie's situation or decide how to help, these questions need to be resolved.
| ✓ RESOLVED — The child pornography document is fake. | A PACER search of the Western District of Texas found zero cases involving Ernest Fontes in 2020–2021. The DOJ press release is a forgery. This is extreme defamation and strengthens any legal action against the harassers. |
| Where did the presale money actually go? | Cryptocurrency transactions are recorded permanently on the blockchain. A forensic analyst can trace the wallet address 0xBA5D25086C7F...1792ec to see exactly where the money moved. |
| Did Ernie personally control the project's money? | His title was "CMO" (marketing), not a financial role. But his text messages and the phone call suggest he had more involvement than just marketing. We need to understand what wallets he had access to. |
| How many people lost money in total? | The 18-page report @SPLITweb3 claims to have would answer this, but it hasn't been released in full. |
| Who is @SPLITweb3? | The primary accuser's real name is unknown. He's British (confirmed by his posts about UK politics and his accent in the phone call). His Twitter account was created in July 2024 and has over 5,400 posts. |
| What role does Ralph Ledee play? | He's listed alongside Splendor's founder on the Majestic P.L.T. website. He was named in threats alongside Ernie. His exact involvement in the crypto projects is unclear. |
| How much has actually been extracted from ZINU? | On-chain analysis shows ~58,806 fee extraction transactions from the ZINU contract, estimated at ~$288,000 total. The extraction is still active today. |
| Is Todor Ivanov investing in his own company? | He is CEO of both White Rock Group (the investor) and Splendor Labs (the company). No other investors are named. No SEC filing exists. |