Fintech CEO and Forbes 30 Under 30 alum has been charged for alleged fraud

Fintech CEO and Forbes 30 Under 30 alum has been charged for alleged fraud

By now, the Forbes 30 Under 30 listing has grow to be more than slightly 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 Education, and “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli, among others. Now, another member of the listing has been hit with federal costs.

Gökçe Güven, a 26-year-old Turkish national and the founder and CEO of fintech startup Kalder, was charged last week with alleged securities fraud, wire fraud, visa fraud, and aggravated identification theft.

The New York-based fintech startup — which makes use of the “Turn Your Rewards into [a] Revenue Engine” tagline — says it could possibly assist firms create and monetize particular person rewards packages. The company was based in 2022, and provides collaborating corporations the alternative to earn ongoing income streams by way of companion affiliate sales, Axios beforehand reported.

Güven was featured in last yr’s Forbes 30 Under 30 listing. The journal notes in the writeup that Güven’s shoppers included major chocolatier Godiva and the International Air Transport Association, the commerce group that represents a majority of the world’s airways. Kalder also claims to have loved the backing of a lot of distinguished VC corporations.

The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that, during Kalder’s seed round in April of 2024, Güven managed to lift $7 million from more than a dozen traders after presenting a pitch deck that was rife with false info.

According to the authorities, Kalder’s pitch deck claimed that there have been 26 manufacturers “using Kalder” and another 53 manufacturers in “live freemium.” However, officers say that, in actuality, Kalder had, in many circumstances, only been providing closely discounted pilot packages to many of those firms. Other manufacturers “had no agreement with Kalder whatsoever—not even for free services,” officers said in a press release asserting the indictment. The pitch deck also “falsely reported that Kalder’s recurring revenue had steadily grown month over month since February 2023 and that by March 2024, Kalder had reached $1.2 million in annual recurring revenue.” 

The authorities also accuses Güven of getting stored two separate units of monetary books. One of those units included “false and inflated numbers,” and was introduced to traders or potential traders to cover the “true financial condition of the company,” the authorities claims. The DOJ also alleges that Güven used lies about Kalder in addition to cast paperwork to acquire a class of visa reserved for people of “extraordinary ability,” that would permit her to live and work in the United States.

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June 23, 2026

TechCrunch reached out to Güven by way of her private web site. The CEO said that she could be sharing a press release about the costs on Tuesday.

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