Cooked
Financial autopsies — fraud, bad bets, and the overconfidence that sinks a company, a fund or a company before anyone involved is willing to admit it's sinking
The Featured Series: 30 Under 30 (Indictment Edition)
Following up on the people Forbes named to their 30 Under 30 list.
Researched using the financial press and court filings, with a touch of snark.
Joanna Smith-Griffin is Not AllHere — an AI-powered edtech venture that promised to solve chronic absenteeism and, per the piece, "wasn't even a safety net.
Nate Paul's Rise and Fall: Balance Sheets & Bullsht* — a real estate empire built on nearly 300 LLCs, described as "a graveyard of bankruptcies.
The Emperor of Crypto Had No Clothes: The Spectacular Self-Delusion of Sam Bankman-Fried —From Forbes cover star to federal inmate in three years. SBF didn't just commit financial fraud, he wrapped an $8 billion heist in a philosophy paper and called it altruism.
Lucas Duplan's Clinkle, Crumble, Crash — a payments app that raised a then-record $25 million seed round and delivered, in the piece's words, "absolutely nothing of value."
Charlie Javice, Frank, and JPMorgan's $175 Million Lesson — JPMorgan paid $175 million for Frank, a student-aid startup, on the strength of a customer list that turned out to be almost entirely fabricated.