N.J. tech fashion company founder accused of $300M fraud

The founder of CaaStle, a clothing technology business, was accused of defrauding investors out of $300 million, officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York said.

Christine Hunsicker, 48, of Lafayette is charged with two counts of securities fraud, one count of money laundering, one count of making false statements to a financial institution and aggravated identity theft.

Hunsicker is accused of lying to and misleading investors in CaaStle and P180 and providing fabricated documents showing the companies were financially thriving, officials said in the indictment.

Between February 2019 and March 2025, officials said Hunsicker “exploited the trust of CaasStle investors, fraudulently inducing them to purchase CaaStle and P180 securities while hiding that she used investors’ capital to buoy the failing CaaStle business and to further conceal her fraud,” according to the federal indictment.

While pitching CaaStle to investors, Hunsicker valued the company at over $1.4 billion while aware that the company was financially unstable with little cash and significant expenses, officials said.

In order to raise capital for CaaStle’s operations, Hunsicker is accused of providing falsified income statements, fake audited financial statements, phony bank records and bogus corporate documents that overstated the company’s operating revenues, profits and available cash.

Authorities also accused Hunsicker of misrepresenting where investors’ money would be applied.

Instead of using investor money to purchase discounted shares from existing shareholders that needed liquidity, Hunsicker instead fabricated the existence of these shareholders and used the money as new capital for CaaStle, officials said.

Over $275 million in investor money was fraudulently induced as a result of the scheme, officials said.

When confronted in 2023 by an auditing firm about providing a fake audit to an investor, Hunsicker claimed to have created the audit for a lecture she gave at Princeton University, officials said.

Hunsicker claimed that sending the fake audit to the investor was a one-time error, according to officials. She eventually repaid the investor to avoid public disclosure of the fraud, officials said.

However, she continued the fraud, providing another investor with screenshots of a fake bank account showing CaaStle had $200 million in available cash when in reality the company had less than $200,000, officials said.

Hunsicker is also accused of providing another investor with another bogus draft audit in 2024, officials said.

She is also accused of falsifying the signature of a board director in 2024 to make it appear the board had authorized stock options for CaaStle to another investor worth $20 million, according to officials.

Around the same time, Hunsicker used false information about CaaStle’s success to raise about $30 million in investments for a second company, P180, officials said.

Hunsicker is also accused of using falsified information about CaaStle to obtain a $20 million personal loan from a bank, officials said.

Even after the board of CaaStle prohibited her from soliciting more investments, Hunsicker is accused of selling over $13 million in her shares in CaaStle and P180 without disclosing important information to investors, officials said.

In February, she tried to sell another $19 million of her CaaStle shares to another investor, officials said.

Hunsicker’s electronic devices were confiscated by investigators in March 2025, but she still met with an investor about a fake audit without disclosing that she was removed from the board and prohibited from selling shares, officials said.

CaaStle was originally launched as Gwynnie Bee in 2011, a subscription-based clothing service. Gwynnie Bee was rebranded as CaaStle in 2018, officials said in the indictment.

CaaStle was marketed as a “clothing-as-a-service” business that allowed brands to rent out their clothing inventory, officials said.

CaaStle filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on June 20, officials said.

Hunsicker voluntarily surrendered to authorities Friday morning and was expected to appear in Manhattan federal court Friday afternoon, officials said.

Attorneys for Hunsicker did not immediately return a request for comment.