Mike Rothenberg, a former VC recognized for internet hosting lavish events, was convicted at the moment on 21 counts for defrauding traders

This 12 months will be remembered for lots of issues. Amongst them might be the rising variety of stars within the startup world who had been later convicted for defrauding traders. 

Roughly six months after Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes headed to jail for 4 counts of wire fraud, and simply two weeks after Sam Bankman-Fried was discovered responsible on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy for his function within the collapse of his crypto trade, one other former high-flier within the startup world, Mike Rothenberg, was at the moment convicted on 21 counts, together with financial institution fraud, false statements, 4 counts of cash laundering, and 15 counts of wire fraud.

The decision, delivered by a jury in Northern California, bookends a 10-year-long journey for Rothenberg, who burst onto the Bay Space scene in 2013 at age 27 with a $5 million fund and sufficient allure to influence TechCrunch his one-man agency was particular sufficient to advantage protection.

The Austin native was a compelling topic. A self-described former math Olympian who attended Stanford earlier than getting an MBA from Harvard Enterprise Faculty, Rothenberg reportedly began each a tutoring enterprise and an actual property fund  whereas nonetheless an undergrad. He additionally logged time at Bain & Co., seemingly setting himself up for a standard profession in finance or enterprise capital.  As an alternative of taking a extra conventional route — he was reportedly supplied a minimum of one function at a hedge fund —  Rothenberg earned kudos for hanging out on his personal as a substitute, and he leaned closely right into a narrative about himself as a relentless hustler who might relate to the founders he wished to fund.

Rothenberg additionally discovered more and more creative methods to draw widespread consideration to his comparatively small store alongside the way in which, lots of them centered on organizing costly events for founders. Certainly, one in all these gatherings – an “annual” occasion held two years in a row on the San Francisco ballpark the place the San Francisco Giants play – impressed an episode of the HBO present “Silicon Valley.” It additionally raised questions, together with in a narrative by Bloomberg that dubbed him “the Valley’s get together animal,” whereas additionally observing that it wasn’t “totally clear” how he was funding all of it. (TechCrunch was advised by sources that after the Bloomberg piece was printed,  Rothenberg despatched two workers to SFO, buying them airline tickets so they might head to the airport’s newsstands and purchase up their copies to maintain them out of view.)

He by no means absolutely recovered. In 2018, he was previously charged by the SEC for overcharging traders to fund private initiatives; Rothenberg settled the subsequent 12 months with the company, which sought tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in disgorgement penalties that had been later backed up by a federal courtroom ruling.

In 2019, whereas nonetheless going through that mountain of civil penalties tied to the SEC’s findings, the DOJ individually introduced costs in opposition to Rothenberg, which — 4 years later —  led to at the moment’s final result.

But what comes subsequent will likely be far worse, presumably. Whereas Rothenberg received’t be sentenced till March 1 of subsequent 12 months, in its 2019 press launch about its motion in opposition to Rothenberg,  the DOJ famous that “every of the wire fraud costs carries most statutory penalties of as much as 20 years in jail, no more than three years supervised launch, and a $250,000 high-quality.” It added that “two financial institution fraud costs” and “two false assertion to a financial institution costs every carry a most of 30 years in jail, no more than 5 years supervised launch, and a $1,000,000 high-quality.” The cash laundering costs, it continued, “carry a penalty of imprisonment of no more than ten years, no more than three years of supervised launch, and a high-quality of no more than twice the quantity of the criminally derived property concerned within the transaction at problem.”

Pictured above: an image of Rothenberg Ventures throughout its heyday, with Rothenberg at middle.