Clothing Tech Entrepreneur Charged With $300 Million Fraud In US (cnbc.com)
(Friday July 18, 2025 @11:30PM (BeauHD)
from the runway-to-runaway-fraud dept.)
- Reference: 0178413612
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/07/18/225259/clothing-tech-entrepreneur-charged-with-300-million-fraud-in-us
- Source link: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/18/clothing-tech-entrepreneur-charged-with-300-million-fraud-in-us.html
Christine Hunsicker, founder of the failed "Clothing-as-a-Service" startup CaaStle, has been [1]criminally charged with defrauding investors of over $300 million by falsifying financials and misrepresenting the company's health. CNBC reports:
> 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. Prosecutors said Hunsicker fraudulently raised more than $275 million for CaaStle and $30 million for a related venture, P180.
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/18/clothing-tech-entrepreneur-charged-with-300-million-fraud-in-us.html
> 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. Prosecutors said Hunsicker fraudulently raised more than $275 million for CaaStle and $30 million for a related venture, P180.
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/18/clothing-tech-entrepreneur-charged-with-300-million-fraud-in-us.html
The American Dream (Score:2)
by Powercntrl ( 458442 )
Convince rich people to let you join their club, and when that doesn't work, just scam them.
Re: (Score:2)
by oh-dark-thirty ( 1648133 )
Only problem with that is they REALLY don't like it when you fuck with their money. If she had just stuck with robbing her customers, it all would have been fine.
Parks and Rec (Score:2)
by algaeman ( 600564 )
Which episode was it where Tom went to prison for fraud?
Hrmmmmmmm (Score:1)
by Defraggle ( 70799 )
Those "Securities and Exchange Commission" people seem competent. Maybe we can put them in charge of finding the client list?
New Jersey (Score:2)
by wakeboarder ( 2695839 )
That says it all... The scamming state.
"Clothing-as-a-Service" (Score:5, Funny)
Just kill me now.
Re: (Score:2)
Here it is as a competitor that hasn't been indicted (yet): [1]https://www.renttherunway.com/ [renttherunway.com]
[1] https://www.renttherunway.com/
Re: (Score:2)
worse... someone... multiple someones believed that they had $439.9 million in revenue!!! from Clothing as a fucken service... we have fallen so far off the path as a species... we're doomed
Re: (Score:1)
I'm not sure who is dumber.
People who wear "clothing tech" or people who invest in it.