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FRESNO, Calif. — Irma Olguin, Jr., 43, and Jake Soberal, 38, the founders and leaders of the failed Fresno-based start-up company, Bitwise Industries, pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiring to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud, United States Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. They admitted to defrauding investors, lenders, and others out of $115,000,000.
According to court records, Olguin and Soberal founded Bitwise in 2013. The company then grew to have three business lines: (1) technology workforce training program, (2) technology consulting service, and (3) a real estate arm that bought, renovated, and leased commercial properties. The company promised to create jobs for underserved groups of people, revitalize blighted urban areas, and show that such a project could be highly profitable.
By early 2022, Bitwise had raised over $75,000,000 through Series A and B investment rounds, and the company had grown to 800 employees and apprentices across multiple offices and states. But the company was not making a significant profit and was running low on funds.
Thereafter, Olguin and Soberal conspired to mislead investors, lenders, and others into believing that Bitwise was excelling when it was instead failing. They fabricated financial information in investor materials and altered and forged other financial records to inflate the company’s revenues, cash balances, and other financial markers.
The following are illustrative examples of Olguin and Soberal’s fraud:
This pattern continued until the end of May 2023 when Bitwise ran out of money and the company collapsed.
As a result of Olguin and Soberal’s false and fraudulent representations, Bitwise received $115,000,000 in investments and loans to which the company was not entitled. The ill-gotten money went towards paying the company’s payroll, outfitting its office spaces, and repaying debts owed to prior investors and lenders, among other business expenses.
Olguin and Soberal admitted that they used their positions as Bitwise’s co-Chief Executive Officers to conceal their fraud from the company’s board of directors and others at the company. They also admitted to using sophisticated means to deceive and cheat investors and lenders out of their money.
This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the IRS Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Joseph Barton and Henry Carbajal III are prosecuting the case.
Olguin and Soberal are scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 6, 2024. They face maximum statutory penalties of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud counts. That makes for a total maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. They also agreed to pay full restitution. The actual sentences, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.