Maple Grove CEO indicted for $10M fraud scheme
File photo of a gavel over money. (Photo by Wodicka/ullstein bild via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A 50-year-old Maple Grove man was indicted for allegedly defrauding investors and various financial institutions out of more than $10 million.
Aditya Raj Sharma was the founder, CEO and president of Crosscode Inc., the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a press release about the indictment. The cloud-based software development company was headquartered in Maple Grove and later in California.
The DOJ says court documents allege from 2017 to at least 2019, Sharma inflated Crosscode’s financial records to persuade private investors and financial institutions to increase funding to Crosscode to prevent financial hardship for the company. Authorities say the company was deeply in debt and basically had no income.
From when the company started in 2015 to about 2019, Sharma was its only employee at times. He was also its controlling shareholder and primary operator, the DOJ said.
Sharma defrauded at least 150 investors out of about $9.25 million, and convinced at least one financial company to give him a $950,000 line of credit, the DOJ alleges.
Sharma has been indicted on four counts of wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud. He made his initial federal court appearance on Thursday.