CEO Found Guilty Of Wire Fraud For $20M Investment Scheme

Crime & Safety Santa Monica Startup’s Fraudulent App Pitch Funded Rolls-Royce, Yacht Repairs The CEO told investors he would use their money to build an app. Instead, he lived lavishly on their dime.
Bernhard Eugen Fritsch, 63, was found guilty Thursday in downtown Los Angeles of one count of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. (Shutterstock)
SANTA MONICA, CA — A man who defrauded investors out of more than $20 million by lying about his Santa Monica company’s performance and using the cash to buy luxury cars and fix his yacht was found guilty of federal wire fraud on Thursday.
Bernhard Eugen Fritsch, 63, of Malibu, was found guilty in downtown Los Angeles of one count of wire fraud after a nine-day trial, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Fritsch, the founder and CEO of Santa Monica-based StarClub Inc., from 2014 to 2017 raised more than $20 million from investors to build out the company’s app — also known as StarSite — claiming celebrities and influencers would use the advertising technology to post content on social media and those high-profile creatives would get a cut of the revenue, according to prosecutors.
Fritsch wooed one potential investor by claiming he had