His “revolutionary AI” was just a room full of people typing.
The founder of Nate, a shopping tech startup once valued at over $100 million, has been charged with fraud after allegedly deceiving investors into believing the company had developed groundbreaking AI capabilities.
In reality, the “AI” behind Nate’s one-click checkout was reportedly a team of human workers manually entering customer data, according to the DOJ and SEC. Founder Albert Saniger allegedly used the false claims to raise over $50 million from prominent investors between 2020 and 2022.
Prosecutors say Saniger knew the product never worked as claimed and continued to present it as AI-powered, despite internal concerns and technical failures. The SEC alleges he also misused funds, including inflating the company’s user base and automating only 1% of transactions while claiming near-total automation.
Saniger has been arrested and faces charges of wire fraud and securities fraud. If convicted, he could face decades in prison.
