- The Department of Justice filed a slew of charges against a Bay Area couple who previously worked together at an artificial intelligence company that developed a chatbot platform in a 25-count indictment on Thursday.
Former GameOn CEO Alexander Charles Beckman, 41, and his wife, Valerie Lau Beckman, 38, were hit with a litany of allegations related to their work at the AI chatbot firm on Thursday. The indictment paints a picture of an alleged fraud that began in 2019 when Beckman started exaggerating his credentials and eventually metastasized into a complex ecosystem that consisted of fake identities and doctored financials, investor materials, and audit reports that ultimately led to the couple’s undoing before the indictment and arrest.
“The Bay Area is home to incredible innovation and hard-working entrepreneurs, but innovation cannot grow through fraud,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Patrick D. Robbins in a statement. “Schemes like the ones that defendants are charged with threaten our financial markets and cheat investors.”
Authorities said Beckman founded the company in 2014 and served as its CEO while Lau was a lawyer who worked on corporate operations and financial transactions. An indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California alleges that between the two, they moved money around various personal and business accounts, misrepresented GameOn’s revenues, inflated bank balances, created phony audit reports and used fake identities and made-up documents to fool unwitting investors and deceive board members. In one instance, Beckman and Lau allegedly faked an account statement to claim GameOn had more than $13 million in the bank when it only had $25 dollars. In reality, the DOJ alleged the company never even made more than $1 million in annual revenue and usually made less than $500,000 per year while its operations were limited. Yet, while the alleged fraud was ongoing, the company managed to raise more than $60 million from investors, authorities claim.
The duo was pelted with criminal charges related to wire and securities fraud, conspiracy, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, making false statements, multiple counts of aggravated identity theft and Valerie Lau was charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly deleting hundreds of files and records off her laptop. According to the indictment, the massive scheme allegedly ran from September 2018 to July 2024. Multiple charges they face carry a maximum penalties of 20-30 years in prison.
The power couple’s arrest is a stunning turn for two executives who helped lead an AI company that boasted relationships and business contracts with retail companies, professional sports leagues, teams, and a luxury fashion brand based in Milan. The chatbot platform allowed businesses to interact with customers and fans but GameOn allegedly barely made money. The shocking scheme alleged by authorities in the 46-page indictment described Beckman’s plot as “brazen and wide-ranging,” and involved a series of “lies, half-truths, and misleading statements and representations.” Authorities claim Beckman repeatedly lied to investors about revenues that never existed and exaggerated customer relationships. Beckman also lied about his credentials and told investors his prior company sold for a little under $100 million when it sold for $2 million.
Attempts to reach Beckman and Lau were unsuccessful. According to a LinkedIn profile, Beckman got a BA in film studies in 2006 and an MFA in media and fine arts in 2010 before he eventually moved into tech.
The couple allegedly used the millions raised from investors to pay for private school tuition for Beckman’s children, their wedding venue, a Tesla Model X with falcon wing doors, country club memberships, and homes in San Francisco including some $4.2 million for a posh new residence. Yet, sometimes the company missed payroll for its employees or paid them late, the indictment alleged. Authorities claim GameOn was often on the brink of not being able to pay its employees for their work.
“Fraud undermines the integrity of our capital markets and erodes the trust that investors place in them,” FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Dan Costin said. “The FBI is committed to ensuring our financial markets remain fair and transparent by investigating and holding accountable those who engage in deceptive practices.”
At one point the couple even tried to get a loan to pay back the company for the money they had allegedly removed from the corporate accounts, but to do so, Lau faked board meeting minutes to say the GameOn board had given Beckman the green light to get a multi-million personal loan. The minutes allegedly faked the board secretary’s signature and that of a law firm partner.
According to the dates in the indictment, the fraud began around 2018 when Beckman allegedly started misrepresenting GameOn’s revenues, credentials, and cash to investors. By 2019, he allegedly took it further by creating a fake email account using the identity of a consultant who had worked for GameOn. He allegedly used that email address to vouch for financial statements Lau and Beckman had allegedly doctored.
In 2020, things escalated and Beckman allegedly emailed fraudulent materials to an investor plus a spreadsheet created by Lau. The tampered-with spreadsheet led to the investor giving the company $500,000. Those deceptions appear to have emboldened Beckman and Lau, authorities said, and they pursued more activities over the years.
In April 2022, the couple allegedly transferred a total of $4.2 million from GameOn’s corporate account to their joint bank account to buy a new residence in San Francisco. Before they moved the money, they had $35,000 in the account, the indictment claims. In June 2022, Lau allegedly sent Beckman faked board meeting minutes that showed a $4 million founder loan authorization that falsely included the board secretary’s electronic signature. The Beckmans allegedly used those documents to get a loan.
In October 2023—the year Beckman and Lau married—GameOn changed its name to ON Platform and Beckman allegedly created an phony audit report using the identity of a professional services company. The fake audit report claimed GameOn had $68.6 million in sales when revenue was less than $1 million. Beckman allegedly sent it to board members and investors.
The following month, Beckman sent phony financial statements to another investor’s partners and claimed GameOn had $72.4 million sales and a cash balance of $14 million.
When 2024 rolled around, the alleged fraud began to unravel, according to the indictment. Beckman became increasingly desperate to maintain credibility with investors while bringing in fresh capital. At the start of the year, Beckman allegedly claimed to be owed millions from a sports team, and began impersonating employees at financial institutions. Beckman told the board and executives there was an investigation for misconduct that kept him from obtaining funds and allegedly said he was the victim of an armed robbery in Menlo Park after picking up cashier’s checks. “None of which were true,” the indictment states.
Eventually, the ON board questioned Beckman and he continued to lie, the indictment states. In July 2024, Beckman resigned.
Beckman and Lau made an initial appearance in a San Francisco federal court on Thursday morning.
