Joonko AI startup founder pleads guilty to $27 million fraud in the United States
Israeli citizen and founder of the AI startup Joonko, Ilit Raz, has pleaded guilty to securities fraud in the United States. As The Jerusalem Post reports, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said she misled investors about the company's key metrics and raised about $27 million in funding.
Claims about clients and revenue
Joonko Diversity, Inc. presented itself as a company providing artificial intelligence-based services for employers to search for and hire candidates. According to prosecutors, in 2021–2022, Raz made false statements about Joonko's clients and revenue in order to obtain investments.
In particular, she claimed that the startup's services were used by major international companies, including clothing brands, a credit company and a travel company. However, prosecutors said these organizations had never been Joonko clients.
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Testimonials and bank statement
A 2024 lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stated that Raz claimed to have more than 100 clients and to have worked with over 100,000 candidates. According to SEC materials, investors were also sent fabricated positive testimonials purportedly from clients praising the platform's effectiveness.
The scheme was uncovered around 2023 after one investor questioned Raz's claims and requested data on Joonko's performance. According to prosecutors, she then forged a bank statement showing an average account balance of more than $5 million, although the actual balance was millions of dollars lower.
The prosecution also alleges that Raz sent the investor fictitious orders from purported Joonko clients with forged signatures on behalf of organizations that had no business relationship with the startup. After Joonko's bankruptcy, several victims suffered losses amounting to millions of dollars. Raz faces up to 20 years in prison.
