38-year-old Rishi Shah co-founded Outcome Health , a startup that provided advertisement on TVs in doctors’ offices. His investors included Goldman Sachs Group, Goggle parent Alphabet etc making him a billionaire in Chicago, but it was all a fraud as the company sold more ads that it could broadcast and lied to clients like pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk A/S about the size of its network of TV in doctors’ offices, Bloomberg reported.
Shah was convicted in April 2023 along with company president and co-founder Shradha Agarwal and CFO Brad Purdy.
In 2017, the fraud came to light after the investors sued Shah’s Outcome claiming fraud tied to a a $487.5 million fundraising that year that led to a $225 million dividend pocketed by Shah and Agarwal.
‘Ashamed and embarrassed’
Rishi Shah told the court that he was ashamed and embarrassed by his failure to properly manage the company’s aggressive push for growth and that led to many “fatal mistakes” including not tracking the delivery of the ads paid for by the clients. “The culture I created permissioned people on my team to think it was okay to create false data in response to client questions,” he said in the statement.
Rishi Shah ideated his company in 2006 when he was a student at Northwestern University in Chicago. As the company expanded, his public profile grew and he became a budding star in Democratic circles. A son of a doctor, Rishi dropped out of the university to start this company.
Shah and his associates, meanwhile, were leading a lavish lifestyle featuring private aircraft and yachts.
Shah was convicted in April 2023 along with company president and co-founder Shradha Agarwal and CFO Brad Purdy.
In 2017, the fraud came to light after the investors sued Shah’s Outcome claiming fraud tied to a a $487.5 million fundraising that year that led to a $225 million dividend pocketed by Shah and Agarwal.
‘Ashamed and embarrassed’
Rishi Shah told the court that he was ashamed and embarrassed by his failure to properly manage the company’s aggressive push for growth and that led to many “fatal mistakes” including not tracking the delivery of the ads paid for by the clients. “The culture I created permissioned people on my team to think it was okay to create false data in response to client questions,” he said in the statement.
Rishi Shah ideated his company in 2006 when he was a student at Northwestern University in Chicago. As the company expanded, his public profile grew and he became a budding star in Democratic circles. A son of a doctor, Rishi dropped out of the university to start this company.
Shah and his associates, meanwhile, were leading a lavish lifestyle featuring private aircraft and yachts.
