The $450 Million Pre-IPO Fraud That Sold Investors a Dream

Thousands of investors thought they were getting access to some of the hottest private companies in the world. SpaceX. Anthropic. Ripple. The promise was simple: Get in before the IPO. But according to U.S. federal prosecutors, the platform selling that access may have been charging investors far more than they understood. Linqto founder and former CEO William Sarris has been charged in connection with an alleged $450 million pre-IPO fraud scheme. Prosecutors claim Linqto manipulated pricing, created artificial scarcity and imposed markups that sometimes exceeded 200%. More than 13,000 customers invested through the platform before Linqto collapsed into bankruptcy. Former executive Joseph Endoso has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the government. William Sarris denies wrongdoing and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. In this documentary, The Greed Files investigates: • How Linqto sold access to private companies • Why pre-IPO investments became so attractive • How private-market pricing works • The alleged pricing manipulation • The alleged artificial scarcity and “FOMO” • Markups that prosecutors say exceeded 200% • Why investors could not easily see the underlying price • Linqto’s use of SPVs • The role of William Sarris • Joseph Endoso’s guilty plea • Linqto’s 2025 bankruptcy • What happened to thousands of investors • Why private-market investing can be difficult to value • What happens next in the criminal case According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the alleged scheme attracted more than $450 million from over 13,000 customers between 2020 and 2025. The allegations against William Sarris have not yet been proven at trial. Research & Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L... The Greed Files explores the darker side of money, power, ambition and crime. From corporate scandals and financial fraud to corruption, collapse and true crime, every documentary asks the same question: What happens when wanting more becomes more important than everything else? Subscribe to The Greed Files for cinematic, deeply researched documentaries about real companies, real crimes and real people. New documentaries every week. This documentary is presented for educational, informational and journalistic purposes. #Linqto #FinancialFraud #BusinessDocumentary