US charges two former Linqto CEOs over $450 million 'pre-IPO' fraud scheme, one pleads guilty
NEW YORK: US prosecutors announced on Wednesday criminal fraud charges against two former chief executive officers of Linqto over their alleged roles in a $450 million scheme to defraud thousands of investors hoping to cash in on private companies before they went public. William Sarris, 75, who founded Linqto and was CEO of the now-bankrupt Silicon Valley online investment platform for 14 years,…
New York prosecutors have announced criminal charges against two former CEOs of Linqto, a now-bankrupt Silicon Valley investment platform, over a $450 million scheme to defraud investors in pre-IPO companies. William Sarris, the founder and former CEO of Linqto, was charged with six counts including securities fraud, wire fraud, broker-dealer fraud, and conspiracy.
His successor, Joseph Endoso, pleaded guilty to securities fraud, broker-dealer fraud, and conspiracy charges and is assisting prosecutors. Sarris allegedly exploited investors' difficulty in valuing companies such as Anthropic, Ripple, and SpaceX by creating "false scarcity" and charging markups that inflated prices and the value of his Linqto holdings.
The alleged scheme ran from 2020 to 2025, and Linqto filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2025. Sarris maintains his innocence and intends to fight the charges, while Linqto's customers face uncertainty about their recoveries due to the company's bankruptcy filing.
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