https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/18/clothing-tech-entrepreneur-charged-with-300-million-fraud-in-us.html

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Business News

Clothing tech entrepreneur charged with $300 million fraud in U.S.

Published Fri, Jul 18 20252:20 PM EDT
WATCH LIVE
Christine Hunsicker, founder and chief executive officer of CaaStle
Inc., speaks during the Bloomberg Breakaway CEO Summit in New York,
U.S., on Tuesday, June 18, 2019.
Mark Kauzlarich | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A prominent entrepreneur who founded the
now-bankrupt clothing technology startup CaaStle was criminally
charged on Friday with defrauding investors out of more than $300
million, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Authorities said Christine Hunsicker, 48, of Lafayette, New Jersey,
promoted CaaStle to investors as a more than $1.4 billion
"Clothing-as-a-Service" business that helped companies rent apparel
to consumers with an option to buy, despite knowing it was
financially distressed and short of cash.

The alleged fraud spanned six years starting in 2019, three years
after the Princeton University alumna was named one of Inc magazine's
"Most Impressive Women Entrepreneurs" and Crain's New York Business'
"40 Under 40."

Hunsicker was charged in a six-count indictment with wire fraud,
securities fraud, money laundering, making false statements to a bank
and aggravated identity theft.

She turned herself in to authorities, and could face decades in
prison if convicted. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a
related civil lawsuit.

In a joint statement, Hunsicker's lawyers Michael Levy and Anna
Skotko said the indictment presented "an incomplete and very
distorted picture," despite their client being "fully cooperative and
transparent" with prosecutors.

"There is much more to this story, and we look forward to telling
it," the lawyers added.

Authorities said Hunsicker falsified CaaStle's financial statements
and bank records to raise capital.

This included alleged representations that CaaStle earned $66.3
million on revenue of $439.9 million in 2023, when it actually lost
$81 million on revenue of $15.7 million.

Hunsicker was also accused of falsely telling investors their money
would go toward buying discounted shares from existing shareholders
who needed liquidity, including after the 2022 collapse of the FTX
cryptocurrency exchange.

In one instance, Hunsicker allegedly raised more than $20 million
after forging a CaaStle director's signature authorizing the issuance
of stock options to an investor.

Prosecutors said Hunsicker fraudulently raised more than $275 million
for CaaStle and $30 million for a related venture, P180.

CaaStle filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in Delaware on
June 20.

"The promise of pre-IPO technology companies can be fertile ground
for fraudsters who play on investor euphoria," U.S. Attorney Jay
Clayton in Manhattan said in a statement.

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