CEOs of crashed tech upstart Bitwise accused of swindling $100M from investors - Duo paid themselves $600K salaries as the cupboard was emptying::Duo paid themselves $600K salaries as the cupboard was emptying
CEOs of crashed tech upstart Bitwise accused of swindling $100M from investors - Duo paid themselves $600K salaries as the cupboard was emptying::Duo paid themselves $600K salaries as the cupboard was emptying
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The co-founders and co-CEOs of failed startup Bitwise appeared in a California court Thursday accused of cheating investors out of $100 million by making up bank statements and revenue figures.
Irma Olguin, Jr and Jake Soberal self-surrendered after a federal complaint charged them with conspiring to commit wire fraud by misstating the assets of their “transformative technology” biz.
The sudden collapse came just four months after Bitwise announced an $80 million funding round on a $500-million-plus valuation and promise to expand to Chicago’s South Side.
“In 2022, defendants Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin, Jr falsified documents and misled investors while raising approximately $70 million,” the SEC complaint [PDF] alleges.
According to the financial watchdog, Olguin and Soberal have agreed to resolve the SEC’s charges against them; that will likely involve them being fined and facing other forms of punishment, to be determined later by the courts.
While being grilled by federal investigators, Olguin and Soberal admitted they conspired to lie to their board, investors, and banks about Bitwise’s finances so they could fraudulently obtain venture capital and loans, prosecutors said.
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