On Friday, a former director general of two clothing technology companies was published on bond of $ 1 million after pleading non -guilty of the accusations that she had cheated on investors on more than $ 300 million in the past six years.
Christine Hunsicker, 48, from Lafayette, New Jersey, was In charge of six chargesIncluding fraud, aggravated identity theft and false accusations of declaration in the indictment before the Federal Court of Manhattan.
American lawyer Jay Clayton said in a statement that Hunsicker forged documents, made audits and made false statements on the financial situation of his business to fraud investors from Caastle Inc. and P180.
“As presumed, Christine Hunsicker has frauds investors from hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to the counterfeiting of documents, manufactured audits and fake significant declarations on the financial situation of her business,” said Clayton in a statement Friday. “The promise of pre-time technological companies can be a fertile land for fraudsters who play on the Euphoria investor.”
The indictment Said Hunsicker, once described as a height fashion entrepreneur, portrays Caastle as a private high -growth company with substantial money at hand when she knew she was facing significant financial distress.
AP Photo / Larry Neumeister
In a statement, defense lawyers Michael Levy and Anna Skotko said the prosecutors have chosen to present to the public an incomplete and very distorted image in today’s indictment “, despite Hunsicker’s efforts to be” fully cooperative and transparent “with prosecutors and Securities and Exchange Commission.
“There is much more in this story, and we are impatient to say,” they said.
Hunsicker did not comment because she left the courthouse with Skotko after entering the no warranty plea and accepted the deposit of the rules of her deposit of $ 1 million, which included not having contact with investors or old or current employees.
According to the indictment, Hunsicker continued its fraudulent regime even after the CAASTLE board of directors withdrew it and prohibited it from soliciting investments or taking other measures on behalf of the company.
She “persisted in her program” even after the police officers confronted her with fraud, said the indictment.
Before the allegations of fraud appeared, Hunsicker seemed to be a rising star in the fashion world after being named on the crash lists in New York “40 under 40”, was selected as one of the “most impressive women” and was recognized by the National Federation of Retail as someone shaping the future of retail, the note of access.
At a time when the company was in financial distress with limited species and significant expenses, Caastle was evaluated by Hunsicker at 1.4 billion dollars, the indictment said.
Hunsicker was lying to investors in February 2019 and continued to do so during this March, prosecutors said.
They said they had nourished investors from the incorrectly inflamed income states, false audited financial statements, fictitious bank accounts and dummy information files.
She reportedly told an investor in August 2023 that CAASTLE announced an operating profit of almost $ 24 million in the second quarter of 2023, when its operating profit this quarter was in fact less than $ 30,000.
The indictment allegedly alleged that it had made the majority of the fraud in Bilking Caastle, investors of $ 275 million before training 180 p to instill Caastle into cash before its investors could discover its fraud.
Thanks to false declarations and omissions, she deceived investors P180 out of approximately $ 30 million, the indictment said.
He said CAASTLE filed a bankruptcy file in chapter 7 last month, leaving hundreds of investors with CAASTLE actions without data. Hunsicker was forced to resign from the board of directors of CAASTLE in December and officially resigned from his post as director general in March.
In a related civil file, the SEC said that Hunsicker’s “Fake Financials” supported its story that Caastle was approaching a first offer or a public sale at the end of 2022, because it benefited from rapid and regular growth of income after having launched a new model of monetization called “clothing as a service”.
“In reality, CAASTLE’s revenues have decreased, its losses increased and the company was never profitable,” said the trial. “Not a single existing or potential CAASTLE investor has received precise, quarterly or annual financial statements from Hunsicker Caastle.”
Before Caastle, Hunsicker launched Gwynnie Bee, a subscription service renting everyday clothes at the sizes of women 10 to 32.
“We want it to be a place where management of a rotating wardrobe is in fact the way the majority of people interact with clothes”, Hunsicker told CBS News In 2016 during the company’s discussion.
Previously, Hunsicker was Also the COO and President of Right Media, an online advertising startup that has sold Yahoo! For $ 850 million, then became the Drop.io COO, an online file sharing service bought by Facebook.