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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

#111

Post by Robin_Message »

andrewflnr wrote: post #17
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 orig…

Startups, especially tech startups, move power from capital to labor through sweat equity, so in a way you can see them as anti-capitalist.

Also, I imagine as a non-founder I am in the majority here.

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#112

Post by BinaryIdiot »

tsunamifury wrote: post #48
marvindanig wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lawlessness, scams, and dishonesty are endemic in this area. And homelessness. I was disappointed to see hundreds of helpless homeless people, some in horrible mental state, right there on streets in the middle of huge ivory towers that SV thumps its chest on. It's such a shame! And with young kids coming out of those glass doors flashing gadgets and gizmos at each other, with that certain bay area flair … I mean t…

You can judge, but SF goes further than any city I've seen to provide services to the homeless. So much so that it's a mild weather Mecca to many. So you can turn up your nose and go back home to a city that likely ships them here or "takes care of it" so you don't see it -- but you are being naive. The poor will always be with us, and we are judged by how we treat them.

> SF goes further than any city I've seen to provide services to the homeless.

Maybe? It's difficult to track the money. Per capita SF doesn't even have the highest amount of homeless and yet you rarely see them on the streets in NYC and other major cities (and it's not because they're all in jail; NYC spent over a $1 billion in 2014 on homeless services and shelters and recently NY state started a $10 billion initiative to help the homeless). I wish SF did a better job tracking where the funds go and how effective they are being spent.

> a city that likely ships them here

This is a bit of a myth. In a 2015 report [1] only 10% of the homeless in SF came from another state. 71% of the homeless lived in SF itself and then became homeless.

> "takes care of it" so you don't see it

NYC has over 200 shelters. Many of the shelters in SF have waiting lists of several hundred people to the point where they have to live in tents which can be pretty dangerous in and of itself. Granted not all of the shelters are like that but many are and when you can't even stay in a shelter it doesn't really give them a lot of choice.

> The poor will always be with us, and we are judged by how we treat them.

I agree! It's far safer to have them off of the streets in many respects by providing affordable housing, temporary housing and even shelters. SF just doesn't have enough of that to go around for the homeless. I would love to see them expand their shelter services to provide more places for them to stay. But that certainly doesn't mean I want someone to "take care of it" so I "don't see it".

I think your comment came off a bit crass by assuming parent wanted to not see them and calling them naive.

[1] https://sfgov.org/lhcb/sites/default/files/2015%20San%20Fran...

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#113

Post by gfaure »

hueving wrote: post #97
gfaure wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a homeless person refuses help, it's probably not because they actively want to live an unstable, day-to-day life, not knowing where or what they'll eat tonight. It's because the government has failed them in the past in its attempts to help. Not every government has decided that putting a permanent roof over the heads of anyone who needs it is a bad use of taxpayer's money.

>It's because the government has failed them in the past in its attempts to help. No, this is incorrect. If someone continues to choose getting high over help, it has very little to do with the government failing them. Additionally, homeless people with mental disorders that make them paranoid or forgetful can refuse it regardless of past experiences. >it's probably not because they actively want to live an unstable,…

I would disagree. If someone chooses to choose getting high over getting help, it's a failure of drug policy in that country. The government has still failed them, you may just be blind to how.

This is not the only way a country has to be.

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#114

Post by prodigal_erik »

BinaryIdiot wrote: post #106
jtmcmc wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

San Francisco alone spends 241 million on homelessness per year. Most places deal with these "normal people problems" by criminalizing it to the point where people leave to places like SF or are jailed.

So your comment isn't really accurate. > San Francisco alone spends 241 million on homelessness per year. The $241 million figure is a little misleading because it encompasses the total spending across homeless services and supportive housing. Supportive housing is $112 million and the people within are NOT counted as homeless (nor should they be but that $112 out of $241 million is not being used on homeless people)…

"Lived in SF before becoming homeless" is self-reported in a survey of people who do not want the city to start sending them elsewhere, and "lived on a friend's couch" technically counts but shouldn't. What we want to know is whether they were ever able to support themselves here, and only 30% of them owned or rented.

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#115

Post by readitmeow »

joshmn wrote: post #47

Incredibly curious about this Chinese firm. Are they talking something like BrandYourself, or more... whatever that makes it? If anyone has any leads/ideas, I'd love to hear them. Again, just incredibly curious.

There's no chinese firm. It's chinese students with OPT visas who needed sponsors to get into the H1B lottery and now they risk getting deported if they don't find another sponsor within 90 days (probably less since they used some of the clock to find this current position)

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#116

Post by thisisit »

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 -…

Not only LinkedIn, same goes for Glassdoor too. I have seen Glassdoor deleting 1-2 year old reviews after promising that employers can't change the behavior.

The difference lies in how to grow your business. LinkedIn and Glassdoor cannot ask employees to pay them for being fair but can ask employers to pay them for deleting/managing the image of the company.

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#117

Post by throwaway349000 »

dang wrote: post #108
throwaway349000 wrote: post #103

They shouldn't be here in the first place when wages for American engineers have been stagnant for decades.

We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12403317 and marked it off-topic.

It was perfectly on-topic. The OP was appealing for assistance in extending the visas of immigrants who arguably never should have been granted those visas in the first place, which I pointed out.

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#118

Post by readitmeow »

tootie wrote: post #6
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)

The only thing that makes no sense is why they hired Penny Kim. The business was seemingly imaginary, the only employees were the CEO's bros and his H1Bs. If the business was some sort of front, why hire a veteran marketing leader to publicize your scam operation? Especially someone who was not in on the scam and was highly likely to rebel? My money is on the CEO being a genuine egomaniac who thought he could will a…

The business wasn't imaginary. The tech was real. The CTO and devs have been building since December 2015. He misrepresented the runway claiming to put in 2 million when he only had 400k to put in. That's why in the CTO's comment, he said he didn't understand what was the end game, why accelerate into a brick wall?

It made no sense why he hired so many people when he didn't have the money too.

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#119

Post by aaron695 »

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 have some issues with this sort of doxxing.

Anyone who think this isn't doxxing go have a look at Twitter, Reddit and even some of HN on how some employees who had nothing to do with the fraud have been treated.

On what was basically a junior employee not being compatible with their boss.

Which adults know is definitely two sided when one person tells the story (and normal).

Re: A Silicon Valley Dream Collapses in Allegations of Fraud

#120

Post by wyclif »

uberdog wrote: post #29
samfisher83 wrote: post #15

I guess you fake it until you make it? Obviously not the same thing but when reddit originally started didn't the founders use bots to submit stories. Theros got billions. Kind of sucks for the H1Bs they might lose their visa.

"Fake it 'til you make it" is more about pretending to have confidence before you really have it and less about falsifying your past in a way that's easy for someone to fact check.

Correct. I'm familiar with the trajectory of the "Fake it 'till you make it" meme, but I have never understood it to be a PC synonym for fraud, or passing yourself off as something that you are not (including missing payroll and falsifying investor interest or mundane things like your C.V.)
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