Venture

Startups August 03, 2026 09:31 AM

Venture-Backed Startups Are 54% More Likely to Commit Fraud, Study Finds

A new NBER paper by Dyck, Fang, Hebert and Xu finds VC-backed startups are 54% more likely to face fraud charges than non-VC peers, and founder-controlled boards are 88% more likely to commit fraud. Fraudulent founders raise money again at almost the same rate as everyone else.

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