CINCINNATI — A Cincinnati man has pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges after he allegedly defrauded investors out of millions of dollars.
The Southern District of Ohio Attorney's Office says in 2019, Benjamin Cantey started a business, Carbon IQ, which did business under the name Rumby. Cantey claimed Rumby was a venture-backed startup providing an e-commerce platform for the pickup and delivery of laundry and dry cleaning, according to the release.
From 2020 through 2022, Cantey took money from investors while lying to them about his business experience and prior business success, the release says.
Court documents say Cantey went as far as creating and sending fake "pitch decks" with false information to send to investors, encouraging them to invest money in Rumby. Those decks contained false projections of Rumby's revenue growth, the number of active cleaners on the Rumby platform and the company's projected profits.
He also allegedly lied about Rumby's revenue, bank balances, profit margins and growth; federal officials say Cantey told investors Rumby ended May 2022 with a bank balance of $1.5 million, when it was actually a negative balance of -$53,000.
Federal officials also say Cantey took $850,000 from an investor under the premise that he would use the loan to pay to attend a large industry show where Rumby would promote its business — but instead, Cantey used the money to buy a 5,000 square-foot, $1.7 million home on Garden Place in Hyde Park.
In all, federal officials say Cantey defrauded his victims out of at least $6,543,999.42.
