Manhattan federal prosecutors unsealed charges September 2 against William Sarris, the 75-year-old founder of the collapsed pre-IPO investment platform Linqto, accusing him of a $450 million scheme that drew money from more than 13,000 investors. His former second-in-command has already pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the government.
What happened
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged Sarris with six counts, including securities fraud, wire fraud, broker-dealer fraud, and conspiracy. He was arrested the same day and presented in federal court in the Northern District of California, where he lives in Monterey.
Joseph Endoso, 66, who succeeded Sarris as chief executive after serving as president, pleaded guilty on August 27 before U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote. He admitted to securities fraud, broker-dealer fraud, and conspiracy charges. Each of those counts carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Key facts in the Linqto case
| Metric | Detail |
|---|---|
| Amount raised | More than $450 million |
| Customers affected | More than 13,000 |
| Alleged scheme period | 2020 through 2025 |
| Alleged markups | High double digits, sometimes above 200 percent |
| Bankruptcy filing | Chapter 11, July 2025 |
| Counts against Sarris | Six, including two securities fraud counts |
The markup scheme prosecutors describe
Linqto sold retail investors slices of private companies expected to go public, including names such as Anthropic, Ripple, and SpaceX. Private markets carry no exchange-listed price, so investors depended entirely on the honesty of the platform selling them access.
Prosecutors allege Sarris manufactured false scarcity and imposed markups that sometimes exceeded 200 percent. They say his own lawyers repeatedly warned him the pricing was illegal.
According to the indictment, Sarris joked privately that his pricing pitch amounted to faking it until he made it, and that prices were set by a little Wizard of Oz behind a screen. Investors were told an algorithm set prices based on supply and demand. The government says Sarris set the numbers himself.
The collapse
By January 2025, Linqto’s business was under pressure. Prosecutors allege Sarris sold shares already allocated to customers’ holdings without telling them, in order to hit the company’s revenue targets.
Linqto suspended operations about two months later and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2025. In February, a Texas bankruptcy judge approved a reorganization plan that gave customers a choice between stakes in a liquidating fund or a closed-end fund holding the private shares.
Why this case matters for private-market investors
Pre-IPO shares sit outside the pricing transparency public investors take for granted. No exchange prints a quote, and no regulator pre-clears the markup a platform charges. The buyer’s only protection is disclosure, which the indictment alleges Linqto deliberately corrupted.
The case also shows how an unregulated pricing mechanism compounds over time. A 200 percent markup doubles the price before any investment performance is even measured, meaning a customer needs the underlying shares to triple just to break even.
Red flags in the Linqto pitch
- Algorithm pricing claims: Prices attributed to software with no outside verification deserve suspicion.
- Manufactured scarcity: Pressure to buy before shares run out is a sales tactic, not an investment signal.
- Hidden markups: Customers who believed they paid market prices were allegedly paying far more.
- Conflicted control: One platform controlled the inventory, the price, and the narrative at the same time.
What affected investors can do now
Linqto customers should gather purchase confirmations and compare the prices they paid against any contemporaneous private-market valuations. Those records matter both for the bankruptcy claims process and for any private recovery effort.
The criminal case runs on a separate track from the bankruptcy. Endoso is cooperating, and cooperating testimony tends to accelerate proceedings, so investors should not assume the court calendar is their only clock.
Anyone holding pre-IPO shares purchased through any platform should ask a direct question: who set this price, and what did they gain from the answer?
Haselkorn & Thibaut fights for investor recovery
Haselkorn & Thibaut is a securities law firm founded by former Wall Street defense attorneys who shifted their practice to represent investors. The firm has recovered over $520 million for clients in securities matters and maintains a 98 percent success rate in resolved nontraded REIT cases. Attorneys are AV Preeminent rated through Martindale-Hubbell, designated as Super Lawyers, and hold a 5.0-star client review average. The firm operates on a contingency basis — no recovery, no fee.
Contact Haselkorn & Thibaut today
Time matters in investment recovery cases. The earlier you act, the stronger your position. The firm offers a free case evaluation to assess your losses, review your account history, and explain your options under arbitration or settlement.
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