Kalder Founder Sentenced to 25 Months for Securities Fraud: Fake Revenue Lured About $7 Million and a Visa
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced that Gökçe Güven, 27, the founder and former chief executive officer of Kalder Inc., a New York-based technology startup in New York County, New York, was sentenced on October 30, 2026, to 25 months in prison for securities fraud. Güven pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud on May 15, 2026, and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.
According to court filings, beginning in April 2024 Güven raised Kalder's seed round by soliciting dozens of venture capital investors with false statements, misleading claims and fabricated documents about Kalder's revenue and brand partners. A pitch deck falsely claimed 26 brands were using Kalder and 53 more were on live free trials, when some had only limited, heavily discounted pilot programs and others had no agreement with Kalder at all.
The deck also falsely reported that Kalder's recurring revenue had grown steadily to $1.2 million in annual recurring revenue. Güven concealed the company's true finances by keeping two sets of books, an accurate internal set prepared by its outside accounting firm and a second, inflated set sent to investors, and transmitted a forged contract with a purported brand partner. Through those misrepresentations she raised approximately $7 million from more than a dozen investors.
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said Güven committed a brazen fraud at her startup, promising investors increasing revenue and a growing customer base, none of which was true, and then deployed the same lies and forgeries to obtain an immigration benefit.
Prosecutors said Güven, a citizen of Turkey, also used false statements and fabricated documents, including reference letters she digitally signed herself in executives' names, to obtain an O-1A extraordinary-ability visa after her student visa expired. The visa, issued in the fall of 2025, has since been revoked. In addition to the prison term, Güven was ordered to pay forfeiture and restitution of $6,717,997 each. The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated, with assistance from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Allison Nichols and Alexandra N. Rothman prosecuted. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于纽约州 New York 市 Manhattan 的 Daniel Patrick Moynihan 联邦法院大楼（资料图），本案在此由纽约南区联邦地区法院判刑。照片：Flickr 用户 83136374@N05 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in Manhattan, New York (file photo), where this case was sentenced in the Southern District of New York. By Flickr user 83136374@N05, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
