NFT startup founder charged with misusing funds from $10 million fundraising
Taj Tarsha, founder of the NFT startup Few and Far, has been charged with misappropriating $10 million in investor funds for personal use, including gambling and luxury expenses. Prosecutors allege he misled investors while failing to build the promised marketplace.
Why it matters
This case highlights the regulatory crackdown on fraudulent activities within the cryptocurrency and NFT startup ecosystem.
The prosecutors alleged that Taj Tarsha diverted more than $10 million raised from investors into online gambling, cryptocurrency speculation and personal expenses instead of building the company's marketplace.
The 34-year-old raised the funds from at least 67 investors beginning in February 2022 through Simple Agreements for Future Tokens (SAFTs), the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said in a statement.
SAFTs give a project’s financial backers the right to receive tokens once they are available. Few and Far’s investors had the right to receive 95 million FAR tokens while funding development of the company’s planned decentralized NFT marketplace.
The prosecutors allege Tarsha began misappropriating investor funds almost immediately after the fundraising closed.
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