The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has obtained a final judgment against Christopher S. Kirchner, the co-founder and former CEO of Slync, Inc., a privately-held Texas-based software company, whom the SEC previously charged for fraudulently offering and selling more than $67 million of securities to multiple investors, more than $28 million of which he misappropriated for personal benefit.
As alleged in the SEC’s complaint filed on February 14, 2023, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, between approximately January 2020 and January 2022, Kirchner misrepresented the financial condition of Slync to investors, including the amount of revenue received from customers and the nature and volume of contracts with existing and potential customers, as well as the planned use of fundraising proceeds.
In addition, between March 2020 and his termination from Slync in August 2022, Kirchner allegedly misappropriated more than $28 million of the funds that Slync raised from investors and used the money to, among other things, fund personal investments, pay entertainment expenses, and purchase a $16 million private jet.
Kirchner consented to entry of the final judgment enjoining him from violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and imposing an officer-and-director bar.
The final judgment orders disgorgement of $28,074,080, representing Kirchner’s ill-gotten gains as a result of the conduct alleged in the SEC’s complaint, together with prejudgment interest of $6,770,535.02, but it deems the obligation to pay these amounts satisfied by the entry of the order of restitution in the parallel criminal action based on the same conduct alleged in the SEC’s complaint.
The final judgment does not impose civil penalties in light of Kirchner’s conviction and sentence of twenty years imprisonment in the parallel criminal case.
