Fashion tech startup CEO kept job for 3 months after $283M fraud scheme exposed: report
The board of flashy fashion tech startup CaaStle discovered its CEO had defrauded investors out of $283 million – and then allowed her to stay on as the top exec for three months, according to a report.Christine Hunsicker was the co-founder and CEO of CaaStle, an online fashion rental company valued at $1.25 billion at its peak in 2018.The company raked in more than $600 million from big-name investors like Bill Ackman and Henry Kravis.But in the spring of 2025, the company revealed that Hunsicker had been grossly overvaluing CaaStle’s financial earnings, and this March, she pleaded guilty to securities fraud.CaaStle is now facing several lawsuits alleging the board – which historically had only three directors, one of which was Hunsicker – failed to notice obvious red flags, and then kept Hunsicker on for months without alerting investors, according to the New York Times.A representative for Hunsicker did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.The lawsuits largely focus on Jaswinder Pal Singh, another co-founder of the company who was seen as CaaStle’s software whiz and a longtime computer science professor at Princeton University.Around October 2024, when investors started questioning the startup’s finances, Singh sold $6 million worth of CaaStle stock back to the company, according to a lawsuit filed in March by bankruptcy trustee George Miller.A source close to the company told The Post that the stock buyback was planned before and completed prior to any questions being raised by investors.Singh then allegedly played a key role in keeping Hunsicker’s fraud from investors and allowing her to remain as the chief executive over the next three months, according to the suit.One lawsuit, citing Hunsicker’s ex-husband, alleged Singh and Hunsicker had an affair two decades ago, so Singh had “a strong personal interest in protecting” her.“JP [Singh] was a cofounder and major shareholder who rejoined the board after several year...