Wife turns in Arizona startup CEO husband over fraud allegations

PHOENIX - An Arizona chief executive officer is facing major legal trouble after being accused of embezzling money from his company.

What we know:

Cyber Dive is an Arizona startup that sells child-safety smartphones, designed so parents can monitor their children's online activity. The company is run out of a business complex in Mesa, but the startup is barely hanging on after the CEO allegedly took off with the money to spend on his girlfriend.

Jeffrey Gottfurcht is facing federal embezzlement charges. He stands accused of lying and doctoring documents to trick investors before running off with at least $1.5 million.

On the company Facebook page, Gottfurcht claimed to be the first rheumatoid arthritis sufferer to scale Mount Everest.  

Local perspective:

Red flags first popped up at the company on Feb. 13, with strange occurrences coming into the office.

Derek Jackson, who co-founded Cyber Dive, recalled the moment the discrepancies came to light.

"They mentioned to me something about getting routing documentation for funds from an acquisition deal," Jackson recounted. "They said ‘where are those documents?’ He said he was gonna send him at 3 p.m. today, and my response was what deal are you talking about?"

Dig deeper:

Court documents show Gottfurcht used the money to buy his escort girlfriend a Lamborghini, a four-bedroom house in Miami, and a diamond ring. The girlfriend has posted videos on TikTok, but her identity is hidden because she has not been charged with a crime.

When asked to confirm if Gottfurcht purchased the car, the diamond ring, and the house, Jackson responded, "Yes. So it gets deep. Yes, it gets very deep."

"It’s a huge gut punch," Jackson said regarding the impact on the startup. "I think it’s been challenging to stay motivated to keep the company going because when this happened, Jeff drained the account to zero."

At the Cyber Dive headquarters, half the workforce was let go. Jackson is now serving as the interim chief executive officer, looking for new investors to keep the lights on while coming to grips with the loss of a partner and friend.

Jackson stated that the total amount of money taken is closer to $4 million.

"I was in the army. I was an intelligence officer. I was targeting people in ISIS. I don’t even hate terrorists as much as I hate Jeff right now," Jackson said.

The other side:

No one answered the door at the Paradise Valley home Gottfurcht shares with his wife and three children. Court paperwork shows that his wife is seeking a divorce, and helped turn her husband in to the authorities.

What's next:

Gottfurcht was previously arrested in Scottsdale in May over allegations of domestic violence. He remains behind bars on a $250,000 bond. 

Crime and Public SafetyTechnologyBusinessMesaNews