Silicon Valley grifters just walked off with more than $500 million from investors chasing the AI boom.
They used fake sales numbers, doctored bank statements, inflated prices, and straight lies, according to federal prosecutors and a New York Post report. Anyone, even billionaires, can be scammed, and are on a monthly basis now.
The cases hit three companies that sold the dream of getting in early on hot tech. Regular people wanted a piece of the next big thing before the shares hit the public market. The scammers gave them paperwork that looked real and prices that looked cheap.
Silicon Valley investors duped out of $500M by grifters using fake projections, false bank statements and brazen lies https://t.co/s6COH1RWEM https://t.co/1WUkhs4T6P
— New York Post (@nypost) October 20, 2026
Linqto, based in San Jose, promised access to shares in private companies such as SpaceX, Ripple, and Kraken. It pulled in more than $450 million from over 13,000 customers, then collapsed into bankruptcy in July 2025. Founder William Sarris charged markups that averaged 60 percent and sometimes topped 200 percent while telling buyers they were paying “market” prices. Inside the company he joked about a pricing tool as “a little Wizard of Oz… don’t pay attention to that man behind the screen” and added “fake it till you make it, baby.” Former CEO Joseph Endoso pleaded guilty in August 2025 and is cooperating with prosecutors. Sarris has denied wrongdoing.
SKAEL, a San Francisco startup, sold software it called “digital employees.” Founder Baba Nadimpalli raised more than $40 million. He invented revenue from companies that never subscribed and from customers who had already canceled. He also supplied fake bank records that showed payments that never arrived. Nadimpalli pleaded guilty in June 2025 and was sentenced in November to a year and a day in prison.
US Issues First Outbound Investment Penalty Over Chinese Robotics AI Deal | Arthur Zhang, Zerohedge
The U.S. Treasury Department has fined Amidi LLC $200,000 for failing to report an investment in a Chinese tech startup – the first penalty under U.S. restrictions on investments in sensitive Chinese technologies.
Amidi is the parent company of Plug and Play Tech Center, a California-based venture investment and startup accelerator organization. The Treasury imposed the penalty in July and disclosed it on Oct. 7.
According to Treasury, a Chinese investment fund controlled by Amidi invested $92,478 on April 19, 2025, in Shanghai Qiongche Intelligent Technology, known as Noematrix, a Shanghai-based developer of AI technology that helps robots interact with and perform tasks in the physical world.
The Treasury identified the transaction through regular compliance and market monitoring. The violation was a failure to report the investment, not a finding that the investment itself was prohibited.
1st Penalty Under US Investment Restrictions
The Outbound Investment Security Program, which took effect on Jan. 2, 2025, prohibits certain U.S. investments in Chinese companies developing advanced artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and quantum technologies. Other transactions involving these sectors are permitted but require notification to the Treasury.
The rules also cover certain investments made through foreign subsidiaries controlled by American companies.
The restrictions are intended to prevent American capital and investment-related benefits from supporting the development of sensitive technologies that could threaten U.S. national security.
Christopher Pilkerton, the Treasury’s assistant secretary for investment security, said in the Oct. 7 announcement that the program addresses the development of sensitive technologies by countries of concern that could pose national security risks.
Plug and Play’s China Investment Network
Amidi’s investment in Noematrix followed several earlier financing rounds involving Plug and Play China, the China-based investment and startup development operation of the Silicon Valley network.
Noematrix identified Plug and Play China as an investor in its September 2024 financing, several months before the U.S. restrictions took effect.
In December 2024, Noematrix announced another financing round led by Sequoia China, a Chinese venture capital firm, and said Plug and Play China had increased its investment.
On April 10, 2025, Noematrix announced another financing round, again naming Plug and Play China as a participating investor.
Nine days later, the Amidi-controlled Chinese fund made the investment identified in the Treasury’s enforcement action. It remains unclear whether the two transactions were connected or whether the fund was the investment vehicle used by Plug and Play China.
The Epoch Times contacted the Treasury, Amidi, Noematrix, and Plug and Play China to seek clarification on the Chinese fund, its relationship with the Silicon Valley investment network, and the failure to notify U.S. authorities. None responded by publication time.
Chinese University and State-Linked Investment
Noematrix has since received financing from Chinese university-linked and state-owned investors.
In June 2026, the company announced another financing round involving Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s AI Future Fund, a university-linked technology investment fund; Shanghai Chuangzhi Technology, a subsidiary of the Shanghai Chuangzhi Academy research institution; and Wuxi Data Group, a state-owned data industry company.
Noematrix said it had worked with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Shanghai Chuangzhi Academy on joint laboratories and research projects. Its co-founder Lu Cewu is a professor and vice dean of Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s School of Artificial Intelligence.
The company also said it had joined Wuxi Data Group and other partners in launching a citywide initiative to collect high-quality data from real-world activities to train robotic AI systems.
The initiative targets data from 1,000 businesses and 1 million hours of real-world activity, according to Noematrix. The company said the partners had released the project’s first phase results and planned to expand industrial datasets to support the use of AI-powered robots on production lines.
https://t.co/37KpImzSoH
— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) October 17, 2026
GameOn, a chatbot company, raised more than $60 million between 2018 and 2024. Founder Alexander Beckman and his wife Valerie Lau remain under indictment. Prosecutors say they forged bank statements and audit reports, including documents that used the names of real accounting firms. One fake statement claimed more than $13 million in the account when the real balance was about $26. The couple spent over $4 million of investor money on a San Francisco home, private schools, luxury cars, and their wedding. Their trial is scheduled for September 2027.
Accounting expert Francine McKenna, a CPA who spent years at PricewaterhouseCoopers and now teaches at Montclair State University, told the Post this is the worst stretch she has seen in 40 years. “Companies just saying whatever they want, in particular in pre-IPO situations,” she said. She added that the old Silicon Valley habit of “make it till you get caught” and “ask for forgiveness, not permission” is still treated as normal business. People want to hit the jackpot on the next AI winner, and that hunger makes the fake numbers easier to sell.
The timing is awkward. Anthropic is preparing for a public offering later this year, with some investors discussing a valuation around $1.5 trillion. OpenAI is also moving toward a listing. Those deals would open AI shares to ordinary buyers. Both companies have warned that unauthorized stock transfers carry no value and that unapproved sales are void.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has not been flooding the zone with cases. It brought only five actions against public companies and their subsidiaries in the first half of fiscal 2026, the fewest in at least 16 years.
The three schemes show the same playbook. Scarcity is invented. Prices are set by hand and called “market.” Bank statements and revenue sheets are rewritten. The paperwork looks official until someone checks the actual deposits. Investors who skip the hard look at audited numbers and real bank balances are the ones left holding empty claims after the bankruptcy or the indictment.
Whatfinger News has been tracking the AI money chase and the warnings that come with it.
—- The Whatfinger News Team: Luke and Lisa, with Grok on edits
Top Features and Vids across Whatfinger
- For Three Buffetts, a $150 Billion Puzzle Over Warren’s Riches: Warren Buffett’s three kids now face a $150 billion job: give the money away before it grows any larger.
- Democrat Medicare and Medicaid Fraud is in the Tens of billions a year
- ‘You Are a Sick Person!’: Trump SCOLDS Multiple Reporters as They Talk Over One Another (Many clips linked)
- The Jalen Hurts Situation Is INSANE! | Eagles UNDER FIRE As Jalen Hurts Is Out For The SEASON
- “Mountains Of Evidence” Ilhan Omar IS COOKED, Obama Comes To her DEFENSE
- AOC Brutally Mocked For Latest Stunt As She’s In Full Blown Panic
- He just watched the ad and it was BRUTAL. James O’Keefe exposed Abdul
