---
title: "Fake It Till You’re Indicted"
description: "Key quote: The requested stay would prejudice no party to this civil action; would prevent the circumvention of important statutory limitations on criminal discovery and avoid asymmetrical discovery;..."
url: https://kaynemcgladrey.com/fake-it-till-youre-indicted/
date: 2026-06-09
modified: 2026-06-09
author: "Kayne"
image: https://kaynemcgladrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Empty-Shopping-Cart-Casting-Shadow-on-the-Wall.webp
categories: ["Articles"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Fake It Till You’re Indicted

!(https://kaynemcgladrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Empty-Shopping-Cart-Casting-Shadow-on-the-Wall.webp)

**Key quote**:

> The requested stay would prejudice no party to this civil action; would prevent the circumvention of important statutory limitations on criminal discovery and avoid asymmetrical discovery; and would preserve the Court’s resources because many of the issues presented by the civil action will be resolved in the Criminal Case.

**Why it matters**: The SDNY’s (https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.640256/gov.uscourts.nysd.640256.29.0.pdf) on the (https://www.sec.gov/enforcement-litigation/litigation-releases/lr-26282) against Albert Saniger so the criminal prosecution can be the big show, a move that nobody seems inclined to fight since the SEC takes no position and Saniger himself consented. When the defendant and the plaintiff both shrug at a stay motion like this, you know the real action is happening elsewhere, specifically in the (https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69871443/united-states-v-saniger/) where the stakes are significantly higher.

Saniger built Nate as a shopping app promising AI-driven, single-tap checkout across any e-commerce site. Now, this admittedly might feel niche given the current (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kaynemcgladrey_april-6-report-activity-7446987846919557120-a4kD/), but his was back in 2019, before agentic browsers were a thing. The problem’s that the investors who handed over more than $40 million based on claims of “neural networks” handling everything autonomously were buying into a zero percent automation rate. The “AI” was actually hundreds of contractors in a Philippines call center, plus a backup crew in Romania, manually filling out checkout forms. AI critics refer to this as “AGI” – use A Guy Instead. When those humans couldn’t keep up with holiday demand in late 2021, Saniger pivoted to the very “dumb bots” he’d explicitly told investors Nate didn’t use. He further insulated his scheme by having contractors scrub Nate from their social media and directing staff to prioritize investor transactions so that the demos looked snappy while insiders knew the automation rate was a nice, round number – let’s say zero.

The (https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.640256/gov.uscourts.nysd.640256.29.1.pdf) hinges on preventing asymmetrical discovery, which would let Saniger use broad civil rules to preview the prosecution’s case while shielding himself behind the Fifth Amendment, a tactic judges in this circuit have blocked before even when defendants objected. Since nobody’s complaining here, the court has already set a with pretrial motions due September 15, and a status conference in late October or early November, meaning I’ll be adding the criminal case to the list of things I’m keeping an eye on. Acting US Attorney Matthew Podolsky noted that this fraud doesn’t just hurt individual investors, but diverts capital from legitimate startups and makes funders skeptical of real technical breakthroughs, creating a (https://nypost.com/2026/03/27/business/disgraced-theranos-fraudster-elizabeth-holmes-just-caught-a-break-in-court-and-prosecutors-arent-happy/) where founders ride a hype cycle, raise staggering sums on non-functional tech, and keep the charade going even after senior employees warn them the numbers are fiction.