uBiome Founders Flee

A story about a biotech startup called uBiome that committed fraud and whose founders escaped justice by fleeing to Germany.

"When she won the Forbes 30 under 30, she was actually 42, which is crazy. Once people found out about that, they started questioning what else they were lying about.

Turns out they were billing patients without their consent. Doctors would order these kits and they would charge the doctor $3,000, then do a recurring thing. They kept charging the doctors, which Medicare/Medicaid was footing the bill for.

In 2019, the FBI raided their offices and weeks later the whole company shut down. She goes to court and there's a 33-page indictment saying the founders committed tons of federal crimes - conspiracy to commit securities fraud, healthcare fraud, and money laundering. By this point, the two founders had taken $12 million of shares off the table, straight to their pocket, out of the $100 million they raised.

But here's the crazy part - instead of going to jail, Jessica marries her cofounder, who's a German citizen, and they flee to Germany. Because of the way the law works, it's not really easy to extradite them back to America. They faced up to 95 years in prison, but they've totally gotten away with it. Their reputation's ruined, but they're basically free.

This was a YC-backed biotech startup that was supposed to save lives. Their office was in San Francisco, and it just got raided and shut down all in one day. Then poof - gone. Now they're making excuses about why they can't come back to America, claiming she can't travel because of some unnamed health condition. As of now, they've won."