iTonic Holdings (ITOC) IPO Pump-and-Dump Case

Attorneys review the case details to decide whether to proceed with a class action.

S.D. New York

Court

1:26-cv-06484

Case number

09/05/2024

Class period Start

07/29/2025

Class period End

09/28/2026

Lead Plaintiff motion deadline

$PTHL investors filed a claim against iTonic Holdings (formerly Pheton Holdings), its CEO, CFO, a director, its auditor, and its IPO underwriters for structuring a low-float IPO that enabled a coordinated pump-and-dump scheme, and for failing to disclose that its stock was being manipulated through fraudulent social media promotions.
Driven by impersonators posing as financial advisors who touted a fabricated Gilead Sciences partnership rumor in WhatsApp investment groups, PTHL's stock rose from its $4.00 IPO price to an all-time intraday high of $32.00 on July 28, 2025, before collapsing approximately 95% the next day.
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Case Details:

On September 5, 2024, Pheton Holdings (n/k/a iTonic Holdings), a Cayman Islands holding company operating a radiation treatment planning software business through its Beijing-based subsidiary, completed its IPO, selling just 2,250,000 Class A shares at $4.00 per share. Investors allege this low public float, combined with the company's dual-class share structure concentrating voting power in its CEO, was the kind of structure FINRA had specifically warned underwriters carried a "heightened threat of fraud" in foreign microcap IPOs, and that the underwriters and auditor ignored those red flags in clearing the offering.

Following a May 12, 2025 issuance of unlocked shares to unnamed "consultants," PTHL's trading volume spiked more than 7,000%, and its stock price began climbing steadily. 

Beginning around June 2025, stock promoters posing as licensed financial advisors in WhatsApp trading groups touted PTHL as an "event-driven investment," urging members to buy and later fabricating a rumor that Gilead Sciences was preparing to announce a partnership with the company on August 6, 2025. 

Fueled by this coordinated promotion, PTHL's stock rose from roughly $4.76 to an intraday high of $32.00 on July 28, 2025, a company with no material business developments to justify the move.

On the morning of July 29, 2025, an independent investigative publication reported that PTHL displayed the same red flags as several other Chinese microcap issuers that had recently collapsed following fabricated acquisition rumors. 

Within hours, PTHL's stock price fell approximately 95% in a single session, closing at $1.65 per share and wiping out roughly $725 million in market value. On August 1, 2025, the company acknowledged that its stock had been "influenced" by "false rumors" of a Gilead acquisition and that it had "no contact with Gilead."

Based on these events, $PTHL investors filed a claim against iTonic Holdings, alleging the company:
Structured its IPO with a low public float and concentrated voting structure that made the stock vulnerable to manipulation.
Failed to disclose the known risk that its stock was the target of a coordinated pump-and-dump promotion scheme.
Caused investor losses when the manipulated price collapsed once the artificial buying pressure ended.
Investors argue iTonic Holdings misled the market about its vulnerability to stock manipulation, causing losses when the artificially inflated price collapsed roughly 95% in a single session.

Case Type

US Securities Class Action

Case Status

Attorney Investigation

Alleged Offence

Fraud,

Failure to Disclose,

Price manipulation

Suspected Party

Directors,

Management,

Investment Bank

Security Type

Stocks

Trade Direction

Long

Shock Event Date

07/29/2025

Filing date

07/29/2026

Lead Plaintiff Deadline

09/28/2026