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The founders of uBiome, a microbiome-testing company that went bankrupt and shut down after being raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2019, were charged with securities fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday (March 18). Jessica Richman and Zachary Apte are accused of defrauding investors out of $60 million by making false claims about the company’s prospects and by allegedly covering up a scheme that involved persuading doctors to order unnecessary tests from the company and claiming reimbursement from insurers.
“We allege that Richman and Apte touted uBiome as a successful and fast-growing biotech pioneer while hiding the fact that the company’s purported success depended on deceit,” Erin Schneider, the director of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) San Francisco Regional Office, says in a statement. “Investors are entitled to know the material risks of the companies they are investing in, no ...
