Wanja Oberhof: Deutscher Unternehmer in New York festgenommen

The German entrepreneur Wanja Oberhof was temporarily arrested in New York. According to official documents, the 40-year-old faces allegations that he defrauded an investor of around 2.5 million dollars in 2024. The "Bild" was the first to report on the case. Oberhof was supposed to receive the money as CEO of the wellness startup "The Healing Company" for a specific business purpose, but investigators claim he used it for private expenses instead.

The investigations are being conducted by the New York State Attorney's office complex fraud and cybercrime division. It is known that a creditor of "The Healing Company" had already filed a civil lawsuit against Oberhof and the company at the New York State Supreme Court in August 2024, accusing him of civil fraud and breach of credit financing obligations.

With Oberhof's arrest, the case draws more attention. According to investigators' assessments, Oberhof is alleged to have used over 57,000 dollars to repay a personal loan and about 25,000 dollars for his Manhattan penthouse apartment's outstanding rent. Another 1.8 million dollars were allegedly transferred to an account he controlled.

Manipulated documents were presented to cover the proceedings. The attorney general accuses him of electronic fraud, for which penalties of up to 20 years in prison are provided in the US law, although the actual penalty will be decided by a court if a trial takes place. A US federal judge set a bond of 2 million dollars for Oberhof's release.

To be released, he must deposit a six-digit sum and appoint at least two guarantors. He is also not allowed to leave Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Long Island and must surrender his passport. Oberhof's lawyer had not yet provided a statement according to the report, and he did not respond to Handelsblatt inquiries. Investigations and proceedings are not yet concluded.

The presumption of innocence holds. The accusations must be examined in a court proceeding. Cooperation with Kofler and Dümmel is requested. Oberhof founded his first company as a youth and later built other companies as a founder or investor, including the personalized newspaper provider Niiu and the listed "The Social Chain AG".

He was co-founder of "The Social Chain" and served as its CEO for several years. He was also a significant shareholder, holding 10.06% of the voting rights, with 6.11% attributed to financial instruments over his equity company WAOW. In late 2021, Social Chain went public, and its stock price soared to 54 euros. Oberhof worked with real estate investors Georg Kofler and Ralf Dümmel at "The Social Chain".

"The step to an elite is not far," Kofler said upon the stock market debut. The company ran into financial difficulties shortly after. In mid-2023, Kofler sold 825,000 shares to Oberhof, as the Handelsblatt discovered. Just three weeks after the deal, the Social Chain AG went bankrupt. Besides his involvement in the Social Chain, Oberhof is or was active in numerous other companies, such as Sweet Dream Invest, Wesko Sanitary and Building Supplies, and Poresta Systems from Austria.

Oberhof's entrepreneurial activities in Germany and Austria are not related to the current accusations in the United States based on the available information.