G\u00f6k\u00e7e G\u00fcven,\u00a0a UC Berkeley alumna and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, faces multiple federal charges pursued by the Department of Justice, or the DOJ, including securities fraud, wire fraud, visa fraud and aggravated identity theft.\u00a0<\/p>\n
G\u00fcven is a startup founder and CEO of Kalder Inc., a rewards platform founded in 2017 that allows brands to sell their rewards and provides loyalty and cashback services.<\/p>\n
\u201cG\u00f6k\u00e7e G\u00fcven allegedly exaggerated her company\u2019s fiscal condition and partnerships to swindle more than seven million dollars from prospective investors before using these misrepresentations to unlawfully obtain a highly acclaimed visa to the United States,\u201d said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr., in the DOJ press release.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A press release from the DOJ alleges that G\u00fcven defrauded approximately 7 million dollars from investors in her technology company, Kalder Inc., and forged documents to acquire an O-1A visa reserved for individuals of \u201cextraordinary ability.\u201d<\/p>\n
G\u00fcven was also a developer and engineering lead in Blockchain at Berkeley from 2018-20, a student-run organization on campus centered around advancing blockchain innovation through consulting, education, design and research, according to her LinkedIn.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If convicted, G\u00fcven faces a maximum of 52 years in prison to account for all charges; however, sentencing would ultimately be determined by the judge assigned to the superseding indictment in U.S. v. G\u00fcven, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.<\/p>\n
The DOJ press release stated that G\u00fcven allegedly kept an internal booklet containing accurate information on Kalder\u2019s monthly and annual financial data, as well as another booklet containing inaccurate and exaggerated financial statements that were imparted to current and potential investors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Additionally, G\u00fcven allegedly misrepresented to investors the clients she had, claiming that 26 brands were using Kalder, and 53 brands were using Kalder\u2019s free services. However, some of these brands were either using Kalder\u2019s short-term pilot programs on discounts or weren\u2019t connected to Kalder Inc. at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The DOJ press release further alleges that after the expiration of her student visa, G\u00fcven utilized the above alleged misrepresentations of Kalder to assist her in the application for the O-1A visa she attained in fall 2025. In addition, the document claims she used letters of support supposedly signed by business executives, but were allegedly digitally signed by G\u00fcven without informing or obtaining consent from the executives.<\/p>\n
G\u00fcven was arrested on Nov. 27, 2025, for these charges, and legal proceedings are ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cMs. G\u00fcven is committed to clearing her name and fighting the government\u2019s allegations, including that she sought to defraud her investors. As we previously wrote to the court in requesting a speedy trial, nearly $6 million of the approximately $6.8 million of investor funds remained in company bank accounts at the time the government lodged its original allegations,\u201d said her attorneys, Scott Hartman, Andrea Griswold and Danielle Sassoon, in a written statement on behalf of G\u00fcven. \u201cMs. G\u00fcven is focused on preparing for trial and we do not intend to provide any further comment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"G\u00f6k\u00e7e G\u00fcven,\u00a0a UC Berkeley alumna and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, faces multiple federal charges pursued by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[81708,81703,81705,81709,7045,4514,81702,81701,81704,143,145,144,81707,81706],"class_list":["post-170368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-andrea-griswold","tag-berkeley-alum","tag-blockchain-at-berkeley","tag-danielle-sassoon","tag-department-of-justice","tag-federal-bureau-of-investigation","tag-forbes-30-under-30","tag-gke-gven","tag-kalder-inc","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-scott-hartman","tag-u-s-district-judge-lewis-a-kaplan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}