CEO of Defunct Silicon Valley Startup Indicted For Allegedly Tricking Employees Into Working For Free (theregister.co.uk)

The founder and CEO of a shuttered Silicon Valley startup has been indicted for tricking employees into working without pay and for lying about his credentials and financing. From a report: In an indictment unsealed this week, Isaac Choi, founder and CEO of failed Silicon Valley job search startup WrkRiot, was charged with five counts of wire fraud for allegedly defrauding former employees. Problems at the upstart surfaced in August when Penny Kim, former head of marketing for the company, published an account of her experience at an unnamed biz. She said the unspecified outfit failed to pay her and forged wire transfer confirmations to make it appear it had transferred owed funds. After it emerged that Kim was talking about WrkRiot, the company threatened legal action. By the end of August, when former CTO Al Brown acknowledged being the person referred to as "Charlie" in Kim's post and corroborated her claims, WrkRiot had shut down its website and Facebook page.

Comments

Re:Startup reality distortion bubble

[HornWumpus]

If your employer can't make payroll, even one day late, and you are not actively looking, you are a fool.

I took work (and company assets) home, the only time this ever happened to me. That company eventually paid and never even knew the assets had left the building (as I brought them back after I got paid).

On the flip side, I knew a mechanic who was unfortunate enough to be on his day off when the IRS showed up and locked down his employer's facility. He was eventually charged with 'grand theft' for using his keys to enter and retrieve his own toolbox full of tools. Didn't even break the cop seal, but they claimed he saw it on the front door. Eventually walked, but the shyster bills were brutal.