The Chief Executive Officer of Kalder, a fintech startup, Gökçe Güven, has pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud after inflating her company’s revenue to raise $7 million from venture capital investors and secure a visa to remain in the U.S. after her student visa expired. 

“Gökçe Güven defrauded more than a dozen venture capital investors through material misrepresentations about Kalder’s revenue and brand partners, then lied to obtain an immigration benefit,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, the state prosecutor on the case.  “In our startup markets, ambition is not a substitute for honesty.  If you lie to investors in any market—public or private; venture or late-stage growth; fintech; biotech; energy; financial services; industrial; etc.—you will be held accountable.”

Ms Guven, a 26-year-old Turkish citizen, entered the guilty plea on Friday in New York, agreeing to forfeit $7 million to the U.S. government.

Prosecutors said she misrepresented Kalder as more successful than it was, maintaining two sets of financial records, one reflecting the company’s actual performance and another containing exaggerated figures. In the falsified records, she claimed the startup had been generating substantial revenue from February 2023 and grossed $1.2 million in annual recurring revenue by March 2024.

Authorities alleged she used the fabricated data to raise $7 million from more than a dozen investors. She also relied on the same misrepresentations to obtain an O-1A visa, reserved for individuals with extraordinary ability in fields such as business, science, sports and the arts.

As part of the visa application, Ms Güven submitted forged letters of support and reference bearing the purported signatures of Kalder executives to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Prosecutors said she signed the documents herself without the knowledge and consent of the executives. The visa was issued in the fall of 2025.

Although she has agreed to return the $7 million, Ms Güven faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. But her final sentence will be determined by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who has scheduled sentencing for September 17.