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A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

nytimes.com

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Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#11

Post by honkhonkpants »

"... but who expects fraud in Silicon Valley?"

lol, wut? Anybody who has been here more than an hour is who expects fraud in SV. The first job I had in SV ended in a joint SEC/DOJ prosecution and jail time for multiple executive officers. Lawlessness, scams, and dishonesty are endemic in this area.

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#12

Post by taneq »

throwaawweay wrote: post #4

My money is on this being a Visa scam company bringing Chinese nationals over. The poorer ones probably got screwed, while the ones who paid (400k from one of his employees???) have probably vanished into the country. (I have nothing against the Chinese, or immigrants in general, I'm an immigrant myself, and I feel terrible for the innocent victims who have lost money, jobs, and for many, their american dream)

They did have a room full of H1B visa holders doing the tech. It sounds like those guys got scammed hardest just on the face of it, it'd be awful if they also got scammed out of money for visas.

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#13

Post by eropple »

wrong_variable wrote: post #9

I have some issues with this sort of doxxing. In fact unless a court decision is made I think it technically unfair to the company and their employee the way the mob has brought out their pichfork. We have only heard the story from one person - and it makes the company and its CEO look like Satan's spawns - which in my experience never is 100% true. Having said that, I am always a little unnerved browsing LinkedIn -…

Verifying his public information isn't "doxxing", especially when it's fraudulent.

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#14

Post by mugenjin9 »

wrong_variable wrote: post #9

I have some issues with this sort of doxxing. In fact unless a court decision is made I think it technically unfair to the company and their employee the way the mob has brought out their pichfork. We have only heard the story from one person - and it makes the company and its CEO look like Satan's spawns - which in my experience never is 100% true. Having said that, I am always a little unnerved browsing LinkedIn -…

The CTO of that company made a public comment on the Hacker News thread backing up her story... It should confirm that her perspective isn't just a rant. It's actually true.

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#16

Post by rspeer »

wrong_variable wrote: post #9

I have some issues with this sort of doxxing. In fact unless a court decision is made I think it technically unfair to the company and their employee the way the mob has brought out their pichfork. We have only heard the story from one person - and it makes the company and its CEO look like Satan's spawns - which in my experience never is 100% true. Having said that, I am always a little unnerved browsing LinkedIn -…

I was concerned about the doxxing at the beginning. But now it's looking like getting the attention of an Internet mob was basically the only option for justice that Penny had left. (I wish I had more faith in the corporate legal system than this.)

It's not just one person. We have now had the story largely confirmed by WrkRiot's CTO (maybe I should say "former CTO", or maybe the entire company is effectively "former") and one of its former advisors.

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#17

Post by andrewflnr »

wrong_variable wrote: post #9

I have some issues with this sort of doxxing. In fact unless a court decision is made I think it technically unfair to the company and their employee the way the mob has brought out their pichfork. We have only heard the story from one person - and it makes the company and its CEO look like Satan's spawns - which in my experience never is 100% true. Having said that, I am always a little unnerved browsing LinkedIn -…

We actually have heard at least a bit from the other party, e.g. "she's a disgruntled employee who was fired for cause". In any case, if it's the CEO of a company we haven't heard from on a major issue like this, that's most likely the CEOs fault, most likely because they have nothing constructive to say.

Also, I find your characterization of HN as a labor forum as opposed to capitalist rather curious, since its origin lies with one of the purest forms of capitalism possible, startups.

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#19

Post by spitfire »

eropple wrote: post #7

This seemed pretty likely to me the second I saw bouncing between tech/analyst positions and "CEO of mines in Asia and South America" on his LinkedIn (when he was mid-thirties at the latest?). There is only so far one can push it before all thered flags go up.

Actually the "CEO of mine in south america" thing isn't so far fetched. Except you have to know that a "mine" can be a 5 acre plot of land dredging up mud to feed into a processing machine.

Friends of mine do it each year. So technically they "own a mine in south america".

It's still bullshit puffery though. But you can do it for $20K.

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