Pakistani SaaS Founder Loses Codebase After Buyer Pays $1K of Promised $200K
A Pakistani software founder who built a $100K monthly recurring revenue AI SaaS product over three years says he was defrauded during an acquisition deal in May 2026. He transferred his domain and full codebase to the buyer's AWS environment before receiving payment, based on six written commitments to fund a $30,000 deposit. The buyer, identified as James De Berardine, a Philadelphia nightclub director, ultimately paid only $1,000 and retained the code for two months while requesting extensive due diligence. When the founder pushed to finalize the deal, the buyer dismissed the transaction as illegitimate and claimed the code had no value. The founder has since filed complaints with the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center and Pennsylvania authorities, and has published a documented timeline of the alleged fraud.
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