Kalder founder charged in SDNY: alleged $7M “seed round” fraud plus O-1A “extraordinary ability” visa scheme

Charlene Lensburg
Sun, 08 Feb 2026 09:12:23 +0000
Court Cases, Law Enforcement, People Radar, United States, US DOJ, Gökce Güven, Kalder

U.S. prosecutors in New York City have filed a superseding indictment charging Kalder founder Gökçe Güven with securities fraud, wire fraud, visa fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Authorities allege she raised roughly $7 million using inflated revenue and partner claims—then reused the same narrative (and forged “support” letters) to obtain a U.S. O-1A visa.

Key Facts

Charged by U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) with securities fraud, wire fraud, visa fraud, and aggravated identity theft in a superseding indictment.

Prosecutors allege ~$7M was raised from “seed round” investors via material misrepresentations about revenue, brand partners, and paying customers.

The indictment describes two sets of books: accurate financials prepared by an outside accounting firm and a second, inflated set shared with investors.

Visa angle: after a student visa expired, authorities allege Güven sought an O-1A and submitted letters purportedly from executives that were allegedly digitally signed by her without consent, triggering the identity-theft count.

Maximum exposure cited by prosecutors: 20 years (securities fraud), 20 years (wire fraud), 10 years (visa fraud), plus a mandatory consecutive 2 years (aggravated identity theft).

Short Analysis

Kalder sits in a fintech-adjacent sweet spot: rewards, affiliate monetization, and card-linked/embedded offers—an area where “traction” can be marketed with ambiguous language (pilots vs. paying customers; “live freemium” vs. no agreement at all). Prosecutors allege that ambiguity was weaponized: the pitch deck reportedly claimed dozens of brands were “using Kalder” and revenue had climbed to an ARR figure around $1.2M—claims the government says were false or misleading.

The cyber-enabled element isn’t ransomware or mixers—it’s document fraud at scale: versioned metrics, parallel ledgers, and allegedly forged digital signatures used to create “proof” for investors and immigration authorities. This is the same playbook pattern regulators and prosecutors increasingly target across startup fraud cases: synthetic credibility (logos/partners + growth charts + third-party “support”) used as a substitute for verifiable commercial reality.

Finally, the “Under 30 halo” problem: the indictment itself notes she was named to the Forbes “30 Under 30” list after touting Kalder to the magazine—illustrating how media validation can become an accelerant in fundraising narratives. That doesn’t make lists “bad,” but it does underline a due-diligence reality: awards are not controls.

Call for Information

Are you a current/former employee, investor, vendor, brand partner, or due-diligence provider connected to Kalder—or have documentation showing how customer/ARR claims were presented in fundraising? Share verifiable materials securely via Whistle42.com (confidential source handling available).