Chris Kirchner, the former chief executive of tech startup Slync, which was once valued at more than $240 million after raising millions from investors like Goldman Sachs, only to spend the money on a personal jet and luxury cars, was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
The sentence, one of the harshest for a tech founder accused of fraud in recent years (Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to 11 years in prison last year), caps a dramatic rise and fall for the young founder, who has Raised over $80 million for Slync. with the purpose of finding a primary software provider for the logistics industry. Kirchner, who represented through a court-appointed defender, won the maximum sentence and was ordered to pay $65 million in restitution, according to a sentencing document.
Kirchner was the subject of a July 2022 Forbes investigation that documented how she exaggerated board earnings figures and fired executives who tried to raise the alarm about her deception. In addition, he spent a lot of money on non-public expenses, buying his own plane. for 16 million dollars and a fleet of luxury cars. When the company’s investment ran out, Kirchner continued to travel around the world to attend dazzling sporting events, while his workers were not paid.
A few months later, Kirchner was arrested by FBI agents at his Dallas-area mansion and charged with fraud by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The charges included the allegation that he fraudulently presented and sold more than $67 million in securities, of which he embezzled more than $28 million for his personal gain. The jury’s verdict in January found Kirchner guilty.
Slync, whose board ousted Kirchner in the wake of the Forbes report, nevertheless closed last year despite an additional $24 million investment by Goldman Sachs.
One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts.
Our network aims to connect others through open and thoughtful conversations. We need our readers to share their perspectives and exchange ideas and facts in one space.
To do so, please comply with the posting regulations in our site’s terms of use. We summarize some of those key regulations below. In short, civilians.
Your message will be rejected if we realize that it seems to contain:
User accounts will be locked if we become aware that users are engaging in:
So, how can you be a user?
Thank you for reading our Community Guidelines. Read the full list of publishing regulations discovered in our site’s terms of use.