By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A prominent entrepreneur who founded the now-bankrupt clothing technology startup CaaStle was criminally charged on Friday with defrauding investors out of more than $300 million, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Authorities said Christine Hunsicker, 48, of Lafayette, New Jersey, promoted CaaStle to investors as a more than $1.4 billion “Clothing-as-a-Service” business that helped companies rent apparel to consumers with an option to buy, despite knowing it was financially distressed and short of cash.
The alleged fraud spanned six years starting in 2019, three years after the Princeton University alumna was named one of Inc magazine’s “Most Impressive Women Entrepreneurs” and Crain’s New York Business’ “40 Under 40.”
Hunsicker was charged in a six-count indictment with wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, making false statements to a bank and aggravated identity theft.
She turned herself in to authorities, and could face decades in prison if convicted. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a related civil lawsuit.
In a joint statement, Hunsicker’s lawyers Michael Levy and Anna Skotko said the indictment presented “an incomplete and very distorted picture,” despite their client being “fully cooperative and transparent” with prosecutors.
“There is much more to this story, and we look forward to telling it,” the lawyers added.
Authorities said Hunsicker falsified CaaStle’s financial statements and bank records to raise capital.
This included alleged representations that CaaStle earned $66.3 million on revenue of $439.9 million in 2023, when it actually lost $81 million on revenue of $15.7 million.
Hunsicker was also accused of falsely telling investors their money would go toward buying discounted shares from existing shareholders who needed liquidity, including after the 2022 collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
In one instance, Hunsicker allegedly raised more than $20 million after forging a CaaStle director’s signature authorizing the issuance of stock options to an investor.
Prosecutors said Hunsicker fraudulently raised more than $275 million for CaaStle and $30 million for a related venture, P180.
CaaStle filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in Delaware on June 20.
“The promise of pre-IPO technology companies can be fertile ground for fraudsters who play on investor euphoria,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton in Manhattan said in a statement.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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