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by Mike Caswell

Prosecutors in New York have unsealed criminal charges against former Andiamo Corp. chief executive officer Michael Starkweather over the company's promotion of a non-existent smart phone. According to the government, Andiamo claimed to be developing the phone through a Toronto entity that it owned, but in reality it never had money to build the phone. As the company was touting the arrangement, Mr. Starkweather was allegedly accepting kickbacks in connection with share sales.

The government unsealed the case against Mr. Starkweather, 35, on Oct. 21, 2019, charging him with fraud and deception. The charges carry a maximum 20-year jail term (although Mr. Starkweather is unlikely to serve anything close to that, assuming he is convicted). Mr. Starkweather made his initial court appearance on Oct. 21 before New York Judge Sanket J. Bulsara. At that appearance, the judge released him on a $20,000 bond and ordered him to surrender his passport. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) Prosecutors did not oppose his release, which usually occurs when they do not consider a defendant to be a flight risk.

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