SOUTHLAKE, Texas — The former CEO of a North Texas tech company last week was sentenced to 20 years in prison, accused of living a lavish lifestyle while defrauding investors in his company.
And the news caught plenty of attention overseas.
Christopher Kirchner, 37, the founder of Slync, was convicted on multiple counts of wire fraud and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity. After a jury found him guilty in January, Fort Worth federal Judge Mark Pittman on July 11 sentenced Kirchner to 20 years in prison and ordered him to pay $65 million in restitution.
While Kirchner's sentencing made headlines in North Texas, it was also covered internationally in England, including by the BBC. That's because Kirchner reportedly had attempted to purchase two English soccer clubs in recent years -- Preston North End and Derby County, according to reports from the BBC and The Athletic.
Both clubs compete in the English Football League Championship division, the second-highest league in English football, below the Premier League.
The BBC reported that Kirchner's bid to purchase Derby County fell apart in June 2022 after "the funds needed failed to clear," the report said.
The Derby County failed bid came just a few months after Kirchner walked away from a deal to purchase Preston North End, according to The Athletic, which covered Kirchner's sentencing in federal court last week.
Federal prosecutors did not mention Kirchner's bids to buy the English clubs in his court documents. But they alleged that Kirchner "misappropriated the [Slync] investor funds in various ways," including by wiring money from Slync's bank into an account that only he had access to.
With the wired money, Kirchner bought numerous items, prosecutors said, including a $16 million private jet, a $495,000 suite at AT&T Stadium, a Rolls Royce and Mercedes Benz G-Class, a $500,000 Richard Mille Watch and several Rolexes.
Prosecutors said Slync was struggling to make payroll by the spring of 2022 when Kirchner convinced more investors to wire $850,000 to Slync as a purported Series C investment.
Kirchner founded Slync in 2017 and held the position of CEO until his termination by the Board of Directors in 2022. He was initially charged in February 2023 after he was arrested at his home in Westlake on allegations that he misappropriated $20 million from the company.
In all, Kirchner fraudulently raised more than $71 million over two years from numerous investors, prosecutors said, based on false representations and promises about Slync’s business operations, false representations about its financials, false representations about its customers and fantastical revenue projections. He then misappropriated over $25 million of those investor funds, according to evidence presented at the sentencing hearing.
