F: Founder Of Goldman Sachs-backed Slync charged with $67m fraud

© Mirko Vitali

FORBES reports:

Updated: Chris Kirchner, the founder of Slync, a $240 million logistics software company backed by Goldman Sachs, was charged with fraud by multiple federal agencies Tuesday.

In a complaint, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Kirchner of fraudulently offering and selling more than $67 million of securities, of which he allegedly misappropriated more than $28 million for personal benefit. In separate criminal charges filed Tuesday, the Department of Justice accused Kirchner of wire fraud and misappropriating $20 million from the company.

The charges came after FBI agents raided Kirchner’s Texas mansion Tuesday morning, towing multiple luxury vehicles from the property. Kirchner made an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hal R. Ray, Jr. later in the day. If found guilty of the DOJ charges, he could face up to 20 years in prison.

“We allege that Kirchner lied about Slync’s business to secure tens of millions of dollars from investors, a massive portion of which he then stole from the company to live extravagantly while not paying Slync’s employees,” Sheldon L. Pollock, associate director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office, said in a press statement.

After this story was published, Slync’s CMO Greg Kefer said in a statement the company is cooperating with the federal agencies’ investigations, but declined to comment further.

Kirchner’s arrest comes months after he was ousted from his company amid allegations of “fraudulent behavior” first documented by Forbes in July. The report detailed how Kirchner had misrepresented Slync’s finances to the board, and fired executives who had raised concerns about his alleged misconduct…

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