SoftBank sues social media startup it invested in, alleging it faked user numbers
Buzzy social media startup IRL launched in April 2021 and was seemingly "one of the fastest growing social media apps for Generation Z," the complaint alleges.
In May 2021, a month after the company launched, SoftBank invested $150 million in IRL through one of the conglomerate’s high-spending Vision Funds, buying $125 million in shares from the company and another $25 million from insiders including CEO Abraham Shafi as well as Noah Shafi and Yassin Aniss, the complaint says.
SoftBank believed that IRL had 12 million monthly active users.
But those numbers were a lie, the complaint alleges. IRL was secretly swarming its own platform with an army of bots, according to the complaint, creating the veneer of a thriving social network which was, in reality, a cover to “defraud investors.”
How stupid is SoftBank? Well, their other big investments were in FTX and We Work.
They've lost 32 BILLION dollars ending fiscal year 2023.
At this point, I have to believe they're in on it with these people. Use the bank's resources, invest in known frauds, pocket the money, sell the CEOs down the river, rinse - repeat.
Surely, nobody is this stupid. You were the backer in three of the biggest investment scams in living memory by chance?
I'm not buying it.
