SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – The founder of an artificial intelligence company based in San Francisco was arrested Thursday morning on charges connected to “years-long fraud schemes,” the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
Alexander Charles Beckman, founder and former CEO of GameOn, Inc., along with his wife, Valerie Lau Beckman, were charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud and identity theft in a 25-count federal indictment that was unsealed Thursday. The Justice Department accused the couple of conspiring to defraud GameOn investors between September 2018 and July 2024.
The indictment described GameOn as a “private business that offered a software program commonly known as a chatbot.” GameOn customers included professional sports leagues and teams as well as leading fashion and retail brands.
Beckman, 41, and Lau, 38, allegedly used more than $4 million of investor funds on personal expenses, including buying San Francisco properties and making payments to private schools. The couple was married in Oct. 2023, when GameOn investor funds contributed to paying for their wedding venue, prosecutors said.
Benioff: CEOs of today will be last to manage just humansThe alleged scheme involved providing fraudulent statements to GameOn investors that “described non-existent revenue, inflated cash balances, and fake and otherwise exaggerated customer relationships,” the DOJ said. “To further the scheme, Beckman allegedly used the names of at least seven real people—including fake emails and signatures—without their permission to distribute false and fraudulent GameOn financial and business information and documents with the intent to defraud GameOn and its investors.”
Prosecutors accuse Lau, who works as an attorney, of furthering the scheme in June 2024 by dropping off a fake GameOn account statement to a bank branch employee in order to later retrieve it while being accompanied by a major investor on GameOn’s board. The fake statement, DOJ said, showed a fake $13 million bank balance when the company’s true balance was $25.93.
Beckman and Lau made their first appearance in a San Francisco federal court Thursday morning. If convicted, the defendants face:
20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud and securities fraud Five years for securities fraud conspiracy 30 years for each count of bank fraud conspiracy and false statements to a bank 10 years for engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity Two years for each count of aggravated identity theftLau faces an additional 20 years in prison for obstruction of justice if convicted.
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