Indian-Origin Ex-CEO Of Mobile App Startup Charged With Fraud In US

Before he co-founded Headspin, Manish Lachwani made a name for himself when he developed the first operating system for Amazon's tablet, the Kindle.

An Indian-origin former CEO of a technology company has been arrested in the US and charged with defrauding investors to the tune of USD 80 million by overstating the startup's revenue and other key financial metrics. Manish Lachwani, 45, co-founder and former CEO of Headspin, was arrested on Wednesday on charges stemming from his years of fundraising for his mobile app, according to the Department of Justice (DoJ). The federal complaint states that from 2015 to March 2020, Headspin, a mobile app testing platform, raised more than USD 100 million from investors. The charges stem from a period of fundraising starting no later than November 1, 2019, when Lachwani allegedly "reported false revenue and overstated key financial metrics of the company.