game over

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Nothing like an ice-cold Huel to prepare you for a good gossip sesh!!

(I don’t actually know if you’re supposed to drink it ice cold tbh 🥛 )

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been accused of falsifying bank statements and audit reports to defraud a company and its investors of $60 million dollars. 

*stares directly at Alexander Beckman and Valerie Lau Beckman*

Let me set the scene:

GameOn (also called ON) is a privately held AI chatbot provider. According to its LinkedIn page, ON is “known for seamlessly powering generative AI experiences used by some of the world's largest and most well-known brands” – in case anyone was wondering.

In 2014, Alexander Beckman founded GameOn to revolutionize chatbots or whatever.

In 2016, Valerie Lau enters the scene as an attorney working with GameOn. We haven’t started any funny business yet.

In 2018, Alexander starts to get a little naughty. This is when the alleged fraud begins. 

An indictment from the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California outlines accusations of:

• Lying about non-existent revenue to seem more successful

• Inflating bank balances – like claiming to have $13 mil in the bank when they only had $25.93

• Exaggerating (or lying about) customer relationships

• Impersonating real people to fake emails and signatures

• Knowingly sharing phony audit reports

(I imagine it helped that Valerie Lau, after moving around a few law firms, joined a VC firm in 2021 that made it way easier to forge false documents.) 

Between 2018 and 2024, GameOn raised a whopping $60 million from investors – with an estimated $4 million of those funds heading right into the pockets of Alexander and Valerie.

What did they use the money for?

Allegedly it went to buying residential properties, paying for private school (I mean tuition is crazy these days), paying off credit card bills, and covering the cost of their wedding venue. 💒

The kicker? during this time GameOn reportedly missed payroll or paid employees late several times. Figures!

But of course it gets worse…

Beckman officially left GameOn/ON in July of 2024 due to internal pressure and the fact that $11 million seemingly went missing. Unfortunately, this also resulted in a mass layoff affecting approximately 60 employees when the company decided to cease operations.

If convicted, these two lovebirds could face up to 30+ years in prison on 25 counts of theft and fraud. 

And in case I didn’t make it clear: all of this info = ALLEGEDLY.

xoxo 💋

Hey, I’m Amber! I’m a freelance content marketer/consultant and aspiring humorist. You can find me on LinkedIn, Medium, Bluesky, and my website. If you really like what I’m doing, you can buy me a coffee.