By now, the Forbes 30 Under 30 list has turn into greater than a bit infamous for the quantity of entrants who go on to be charged with fraud. Notable alumni embrace FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, Frank CEO Charlie Javice, Joanna Smith-Griffin, founding father of the AI startup AllHere Schooling, and “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli, amongst others. Now, one other member of the checklist has been hit with federal expenses.
Gökçe Güven, a 26-year-old Turkish nationwide and the founder and CEO of fintech startup Kalder, was charged last week with alleged securities fraud, wire fraud, visa fraud, and aggravated id theft.
The New York-based fintech startup — which makes use of the “Flip Your Rewards into [a] Income Engine” tagline — says it might assist firms create and monetize particular person rewards applications. The corporate was based in 2022, and affords collaborating corporations the alternative to earn ongoing income streams through accomplice affiliate gross sales, Axios previously reported.
Güven was featured in final yr’s Forbes 30 Beneath 30 checklist. The journal notes in the writeup that Güven’s shoppers included main chocolatier Godiva and the Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation, the commerce group that represents a majority of the world’s airways. Kalder additionally claims to have loved the backing of a number of prominent VC firms.
The U.S. Division of Justice alleges that, throughout Kalder’s seed round in April of 2024, Güven managed to increase $7 million from greater than a dozen buyers after presenting a pitch deck that was rife with false information.
In accordance to the authorities, Kalder’s pitch deck claimed that there have been 26 manufacturers “utilizing Kalder” and one other 53 manufacturers in “reside freemium.” Nonetheless, officers say that, in actuality, Kalder had, in lots of circumstances, solely been providing closely discounted pilot applications to lots of these firms. Different manufacturers “had no settlement with Kalder in any way—not even free of charge providers,” officers stated in a press launch asserting the indictment. The pitch deck additionally “falsely reported that Kalder’s recurring income had steadily grown month over month since February 2023 and that by March 2024, Kalder had reached $1.2 million in annual recurring income.”
The federal government additionally accuses Güven of getting saved two separate units of monetary books. A type of units included “false and inflated numbers,” and was introduced to buyers or potential buyers to cover the “true monetary situation of the firm,” the authorities claims. The DOJ additionally alleges that Güven used lies about Kalder in addition to cast paperwork to get hold of a class of visa reserved for people of “extraordinary capability,” that may permit her to reside and work in the United States.
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June 23, 2026
TechCrunch reached out to Güven by her private web site. The CEO stated that she could be sharing a press release about the expenses on Tuesday.
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