Tech company exec charged for gambling seed funding online casino app
Former Chief Executive Officer, Richard Kim, of technology company Zero Edge Corporation has been charged with securities and wire fraud after gambling US$4 million from investor funding.
According to a press release from the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, it was revealed that Kim had been defrauding investors in his proposed online casino app by making false and misleading claims after founding the company in March 2024.
Kim had initially approached investors, claiming to be creating a new casino app using blockchain technologies, with investor funds to be used to build the app and the business.
Around US$4.3 million was generated in the company’s seed financing round, which Kim used to gamble on his personal account held at the crypto casino and sportsbook Shuffle.com in June 2024.
He had used around US$3.8 million of the funds to invest in crypto using his personal account earlier in the year.
United States Attorney Jay Clayton said, “As alleged, Richard Kim misled investors by promising that he would build a blockchain-based casino gaming app, but ironically, Kim turned around and gambled away the very funds he said he would use to build a better casino. Founders who abuse the trust of their investors threaten the integrity of our important and uniquely American venture capital market.”
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