Slync Founder Sentenced to 20 Years in Federal Prison for Fraud

Slync founder Christopher Kirchner was sentenced today to 20 years in federal prison for defrauding investors of tens of millions of dollars, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.

Mr. Kirchner, 37,  who founded supply chain management software company Slync in 2017 and held the position of CEO until his termination by the Board of Directors in 2022, was initially charged in February 2023.  Just 11 months later, a jury convicted him of four counts of wire fraud and seven counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity. He was sentenced Thursday to 240 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, who also ordered him to pay more than $65 million in restitution.

“Even as his company was circling the drain, Chris Kirchner was spending millions of his investors’ money on himself. Apparently, projecting personal prosperity was more important to him than making payroll,” said U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton. “His duplicity earned him 20 years in prison. We are proud to hold him accountable for his crimes and are committed to pursuing all businesspeople engaged in criminal conduct.”

"Mr. Kirchner fraudulently raised money from investors and embezzled those funds from the company he led to fund a lavish lifestyle. Today’s sentence underscores the gravity of those crimes. He acted without any regard for how it would affect the company, employees, or investors," said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Chad Yarbrough. “The FBI is committed to working with our partners to investigate any allegation of financial misconduct. We will hold individuals accountable who use their positions of trust for personal profit.”

According to evidence presented at the sentencing hearing, between 2020 and 2022, Mr. Kirchner fraudulently raised more than $71 million from numerous investors based on false representations and promises about Slync’s business operations, false representations about Slync’s financials, false representations about Slync’s customers, and fantastical revenue projections. As the jury’s verdict indicated, Mr. Kirchner then misappropriated over $25 million of the investor funds in various ways.

Between April 2020 and March 2022, Mr. Kirchner initiated nearly 100 wire transfers moving money from Slync’s Silicon Valley Bank account into the company’s account at JPMorgan Chase Bank – an account only he had access to.  He then wired much of the money from the Chase account to his personal bank accounts.  In addition, Mr. Kirchner wired $20 million directly from Slync’s Silicon Valley Bank account into his personal checking account.  Mr. Kirchner then used the misappropriated funds to buy, among other things, a $16 million private jet, a suite at AT&T Stadium, exotic vehicles including a Rolls Royce and Mercedes Benz G-Class, and jewelry including a $500,000 Richard Mille watch, several Rolex watches, and a Cartier necklace.

When Slync, drained of funds, struggled to make payroll in the spring of 2022, Mr. Kirchner attempted to replace some of the money he had misappropriated by convincing at least four investors to wire approximately $850,000 to Slync as part of a purported Series C investment round.  Slync’s Board of Directors never authorized a Series C investment round.

In the meantime, Mr. Kirchner offered various explanations for Slync’s payroll issues – all of which were untrue. Mr. Kirchner also fired a Slync employee after the employee reported to the Board of Directors that Mr. Kirchner may have falsely exaggerated Slync’s financial performance to investors.

Immediately following his suspension by the Board of Directors in late July 2022, Mr. Kirchner removed certain IT administrator privileges from key Slync employees, preventing the employees from accessing Slync’s computer systems.  He then attempted to delete approximately 18 gigabytes of Slync data, including emails.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua D. Detzky, Nashonme Johnson, and Jay Weimer prosecuted the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dimitri Rocha handled the forfeiture; Assistant U.S. Attorney Katie Carr Jacobs worked on restitution. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian McKay served as appellate liaison.