Whoops. Another Forbes 30u30 Facing Prison

There's a joke that's been circulating online recently.

Congratulations to the other winners.

I'll see you in prison.

The joke is aimed at the Forbes 30 under 30 list.

Reason being that it's become sort of a curse.

Several former Forbes honorees have been charged with major financial crimes.

Think about Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison at FTX, Charlie Javice at Frank,

and even Martin Shkreli before them.

Some of these stories I've covered in detail on this channel.

But by 2023, it was getting

so bad that even Forbes had to address it.

They released a piece titled Hall of Shame.

It featured past winners who ended up facing fraud allegations.

And now, there's another name to add to that list.

Guche Givens, the 26-year-old CEO of fintech startup Calda,

was charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, visa fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

Calda looked like a fast-moving fintech company with brand partnerships and healthy revenue.

It carried the right credentials, but all was not as it seems.

What started as an investigation into fraud and inflated figures spiraled into aggravated theft,

a federal crime.

Now, its CEO is facing up to 52 years in prison if convicted.

>> >> A disclaimer, this case is ongoing and the allegations remain unproven in court.

So, what exactly happened at Calda?

What did investors think they were funding?

And why does this particular badge keep appearing in stories like this?

>> You are watching Cold Fusion TV.

>> >> If you had come across Calda in 2024,

nothing about it would have looked unusual.

It was a New York-based fintech startup founded in 2022.

At its core, it was a software service looking to change the way loyalty

programs worked for brands.

You see, for large brands, loyalty programs are a big expense.

Airlines offer miles, retailers offer points, cashback platforms promise rewards.

The point of these programs is more about marketing than revenue.

They keep customers loyal to a brand,

but the extra revenue brought in by such schemes is limited.

Kalder's pitch was to flip the script on its head.

What if those reward programs could generate revenue instead?

So, this is how it would work.

A brand could run its usual rewards program,

but inside that program customers would see offers from other companies.

Think seeing travel deals while browsing for retail discounts.

These third-party companies are willing to pay for consumer traffic.

If a customer click through and has made a purchase,

the company that showed the ad space inside their loyalty program would earn a

commission.

In practical terms, Kalder acted as an infrastructure layer,

a white-label software system

that powered the loyalty experience on the front end

and connected brands to networks of affiliate partners on the back end.

Okay, so brands could now get paid more for affiliate partnerships through Kalder.

So far, so good.

But as you'll soon see, all was not as it seemed.

Though before we get to that,

let's first take a look at Kalder's founder and CEO.

Güven is a Turkish-born entrepreneur who studied computer science at UC Berkeley.

While still at Berkeley, she joined a Celo,

a blockchain project during the bear market in crypto.

From there, she moved into Robinhood crypto and later into product roles at OpenSea,

one of the largest NFT marketplaces.

>> And lastly, I was at um early stage team at OpenSea doing product

and design.

And there, I have been seeing uh how NFTs were powerful to cross the

chasm of crypto for everyday user.

And every brand and every creator were create trying to um own

and launch their community.

And this was possible with blockchain-powered engagement and loyalty.

>> NFTs, Robinhood, and crypto do give off a certain smell.

But anyway, from that clip,

you can see that Güven's early work was at the intersection of crypto

and brands.

While she was at OpenSea, she worked on brand and creator partnerships,

and she noticed that brands were looking for loyalty, membership, and direct engagement.

That observation became the foundation of Kalda.

Kalda, in her own words, was meant to be a, quote,

Shopify-like white-label infrastructure for brands to launch blockchain-powered loyalty programs.

>> What Kalda provides is a Shopify-like white-label solution for any brand

and creator to launch their loyalty

or membership on blockchain.

>> The company had announced it had raised 10.5 million in total funding,

including a $7 million seed round.

>> >> At the time, Kalda publicly referenced brands such as Godiva, Milo, heat.io,

a Swiss football club, BSC Young Boys, and a strategic partnership with the IATA,

International Air Transport Association, as part of its network.

Then came the Forbes 30 under 30 batch.

On paper, it looked like she was well on her way to the top.

A technically credible founder, recognizable brand partnerships, venture backing, and industry recognition.

But, according to federal investigators, this is where things start to go very wrong.

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Now, let's get back to the story.

So, Kalder had raised $7 million in a seed round in April of 2024,

and that round was built on a story of numbers.

Kalder said that the average brand on its platform had around 50,000 linked customer

accounts and was generating roughly 450,000 in additional revenue through affiliate sales

and partner stores.

Those figures were an essential part of how the model was framed publicly.

Investors were impressed, with Julius Genachowski, former SEC chairman of all people, stating,

"Kalder's fresh approach to rewards is delivering exceptional value to both brands

and their customers.

The team's ability to deliver such strong results is truly impressive."

End quote.

During the seed round, investors flipped through a glowing pitch deck.

According to reporting based on the federal indictment,

one slide had listed 26 brands as, quote, "using Kalder" alongside another 53 in,

quote, "live freemium status."

That meant dozens of companies were presented

as actively on the platform

or experimenting with it in real-world deployments.

For fundraising purposes, this was perfect.

It validated the business model and suggested that the product was already in motion,

but federal prosecutors allege that the reality was very different.

According to the Department of Justice, Kalder's CEO, Guven,

literally kept two separate sets of financial books.

One of those sets featured, quote, "false and inflated numbers," end quote,

and was presented to investors or potential investors to hide the, quote,

"true financial condition of the company," end quote.

In the end, many of the paying customers in the deck, in fact,

were not paying customers, at least in the conventional sense.

Several were described as discounted pilot programs that never developed into commercial contracts.

In other cases, certain companies listed had no agreement with Kalder at all.

Then there was the revenue.

The indictment states that the pitch materials reported by Kalder had reached approximately 1.2

million in annual recurring revenue by March 2024.

Investigators allege that the real figure was nowhere near close.

They claim that Kalder's actual monthly revenue in April 2024 was under $10,000.

Those alleged misinterpretations are the basis of the securities

and wire fraud charges tied to the $7 million seed round,

but the investigation didn't stop there.

>> >> Guche Guven, who was a Turkish national, allegedly applied for an O-1A visa.

This is a US visa category reserved for individuals who can demonstrate extraordinary abilities

in their field.

It is a status designed for people who can show documented impact, recognition,

and evidence that their work stands out.

Prosecutors allege that information about Kalder's financial performance

and customer relationships was submitted

as evidence in support of the O-1A visa application.

The same disputed metrics shown to investors were also used to persuade immigration authorities

that Caldera was a high-impact,

fast-growing company.

In other words, the disputed revenue claims tied to Caldera were allegedly used to

justify her qualification for an O-1A visa.

Authorities say those representations were materially false.

That's the basis for the visa fraud charge.

So now she's facing visa fraud charges on top of securities and wire fraud,

but that's not all.

She's also been charged with aggravated identity theft.

But why identity theft?

Prosecutors say that her visa application was submitted with letters of support

and signed by high executives in business.

Authorities allege that those signatures were added digitally by Guven herself without the executive's

consent.

So now she's in serious trouble,

and that's what led to the aggravated identity theft charge.

This is no longer just about how a startup misrepresented its numbers.

Now it's spiraled into a federal crime case.

According to experts, if convicted on all counts,

Guven could face up to 52 years in prison.

That figure reflects the maximum,

and the sentence would ultimately be decided by a judge.

According to the FBI assistant director in charge, James C.

Barnacle, Jr., quote, "Guven allegedly curated a facade of her business ingenuity to unlawfully

reap financial and personal benefits.

The FBI will continue to expose any manipulative tactics employed to advertise misleading investment

opportunities at the cost of their related stakeholders."

End quote.

The link between the Forbes 30 under 30 list

and fraud cases is hard to ignore at this point.

>> >> In fact, just as I was finishing up this video,

fraud accusations have been brought against another 30 under 30 affiliated company.

More to come on that.

It can be said

that the Forbes 30 curse stems from intense pressure to achieve maximum success before

age 30.

The list is also the kind of achievement that carries fame and clout,

a toxic combination for young people.

That can lead to the fake-it-till-you-make-it ethos,

where shortcuts can become fraud.

In addition, many of the members on the list come from

or are funded by industries like finance

and tech,

which are highly susceptible to scandals such as money laundering, bribery, and Ponzi schemes.

But, to be fair, the sheer number of people honored on the Forbes list,

hundreds annually, means that statistically some will inevitably face legal issues.

Over the years, critics have questioned how it really works

and how an individual gets on the list in the first place.

You'll even see claims online that placements are influenced by who you know,

or you can just pay to get on the list.

>> People pay to put themselves on the Forbes under 30 list.

>> You also pay.

>> Forbes says that the selections are editorial and independently judged.

There's no pay-to-play or outside influence.

So, all we really have would amount to online speculation at this point,

but to some, it still seems fishy.

Whatever you think of the online debates, the badge itself does not create fraud.

It isn't the real cause.

Some people earn those badges and build real companies.

Some on the Forbes list have gone on to do incredible things.

The fraudsters, however, seek the Forbes list out as a veneer of legitimacy,

and they use those titles to hype themselves up

as the real deal

while they're running a scam behind the scenes.

>> >> Ironically, the way things are going,

the list may turn into a warning rather than a badge of honor.

As for Gotche Guven, the courts will determine the legal outcome.

We'll just have to wait and see how the story shapes up.

If you're an investor, it's a warning to be more careful.

In announcing the charges, the US Attorney's Office warned investors to, quote,

"Beware of fraud masquerading as entrepreneurship."

End quote.

That warning is aimed at more than just one founder.

Early-stage startups are valued on projected growth.

Revenue charts, customer logos, marketing,

and awards can shape perception long before the financial audits take place.

In fast cycles, belief can often move ahead of verification.

I'll be here to report on the next Forbes company, Delve,

who's found themselves in hot water.

That's if you guys are keen.

Anyway, that's about it from me.

My name is Dagogo

and you've been watching ColdFusion

and I'll see you again soon for the next episode.

Cheers, guys.

Have a good one.

>> >> ColdFusion.

It's new thinking.