Maple Grove Startup Founder Bilked $10M From Investors: Feds

MAPLE GROVE, MN — A Maple Grove man was federally indicted for bilking investors and financial institutions out of more than $10 million, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

Aditya Raj Sharma, 50, was charged with four counts of wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud. He made his first appearance in federal court on Thursday.

According to prosecutors, Sharma "induced" at least one financial institution to provide him with a $950,000 line of credit, and further induced at least 150 investors, including Minnesotans, to provide approximately $9.25 million to Crosscode.

Sharm rank Crosscode Inc., a cloud-based software development company headquartered first in Maple Grove and later in Foster City, California, authorities said.

From Crosscode’s founding in 2015 through at least May 2019, he was the primary operator of the company, its controlling shareholder, and sometimes its only employee and shareholder, according to investigators.

During his ownership, Sharma defrauded investors, financial institutions, and lending and finance companies, federal prosecutors said.

Sharma also manipulated and falsely inflated Crosscode’s financial records so private investors and financial entities would want to extend capital to his company, which was mired in debt with virtually no incoming revenue or cash on hand, according to investigators.

Sharma also fraudulently applied for hundreds of thousands in funding from multiple lenders and finance companies, authorities said.