Saygus CEO Chad Leon who touted a revolutionary smartphone for several years but failed to produce one has been now charged by the US Attorney’s office in Utah with allegations of fraud. Chad Leon Sayers solicited as many as around 300 investors to invest $10 million in Saygus and promised them “imminent billion-dollar success”.
However, instead of using the funds, he raised to create the promised smartphone, he used those for personal expenses and debts and paid older investors with funds he raised from newer ones. The US Attorney’s office in Utah called the whole thing “Ponzi-like.”
It is estimated that approximately, Sayers spent $2.17 million of the money raised on office rent, around $800,000 of the funds to settle other lawsuits, around $500,000 on legal fees, around $145,000 on shopping, entertainment, and personal care, and around $30,000 on his personal credit card.
According to the US Attorney’s office, Sayers began soliciting the funds in 2006 and used emails, social media, and investor newsletters to persuade people to invest in the phone and provide “updates” about the phone’s launch.
Back in 2009, Saygus touted its first VPhone called Saygus V2 with a sliding keyboard. The Saygus V2 was advertised with a 5 inch 1080p display, a 2.5 GHz quad core Snapdragon processor, a 3 GB RAM, and Android 4.4.4 KitKat.
Saygus said the phone has been specially designed for media junkies. Other features include up to 320 GB of storage, 64 GB internal storage with two MicroSDXC slots, a 21 megapixels rear, a 13 megapixel front camera, Harman Kardon speakers, a biometric fingerprint scanner, built-in Wireless Qi charging, and last but not the least, root access for developers.
The said phone never came into existence in reality. Online blogs like Android Police kept a close eye on the Saygus saga for several years and their archives have many of the twists and turns of this very weird story. A jury trial has been scheduled for 30th august for Sayers.