Sankaet Pathak

analysisPathak founded the business in 2014 as Synapse Payments LLC and was chief executive of Synapse until May 2024, signing its bankruptcy petition in that capacity. The brokerage's Form BD schedules list him as an indirect owner, through Synapse, in the band of 25% to less than 50%, giving his relationship to Synapse as chief executive since December 2019; the schedules show ownership bands rather than exact percentages and do not otherwise date his holding. California's DFPI names him as a control person of Synapse Brokerage from June 2020; the end date is cut off in the retained copy of its accusation. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8}

analysisPathak's public account is that the shortfall stems from discrepancies between Synapse's and Evolve's records and from fees Evolve debited from customer accounts, and in an August 20, 2024 post he wrote that Evolve needed to pay out customers and cover the deficit it had created. An Evolve spokesperson called his version simply not true, said Synapse had full visibility into its accounts at Evolve and that Pathak and Synapse failed at keeping accurate ledgers of each end user's funds, which only Synapse was in a position to do; Evolve has also said his claims rest on demonstrably inaccurate ledgers his company prepared. According to Pathak, Evolve sent him a cease-and-desist letter after he posted what he described as an anonymised trial balance. These are competing statements: no court or regulator has decided between them, the CFPB recorded that the dispute was unresolved when the sale failed, and the trustee expressed no opinion on whether any bank's liability was limited to the funds it held. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

analysisHe also says that certain investor directors vetoed a Series C of about $100 million lined up in November 2022, and that the board, which at times included partners of Andreessen Horowitz, Trinity Ventures and Core Innovation Capital, was broadly aware of the company's problems, was trying to do the right thing and asked him not to shut down and escalate. The investors declined to comment or did not respond, and no statement by the directors is retained. ^{3 1}

analysisIn November 2024 Pathak acknowledged taking two loans from Synapse in late 2023 and early 2024, totalling $320,000, approved by a board that he described as himself, a seed investor and a co-founder, identified from bankruptcy filings as Doug Marchant and Hillary Quirk; he declined to explain their purpose beyond saying he had good reasons that would become obvious relatively soon, and the loan documents and board approval are not retained. In the same month he said he knew of no criminal investigation and had not been contacted by law enforcement, though he had spoken with FINRA. A March 2025 business-press report, based on a late-January 2025 court filing that is not retained, said federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York had convened a grand jury in an investigation into Synapse; Pathak said that month that prosecutors had not contacted him. The U.S. Attorney's Office there declined to comment, the trustee and Judge Barash said they could neither confirm nor deny any referral to law enforcement, and no criminal charge appears in the record. ^{1 2 3}

analysisPathak is one of five defendants, with Synapse, Synapse Brokerage, Mark Paverman and Jeffrey Stanley, in a putative class action classified as a racketeering (RICO) case, filed in the Central District of California in March 2026; by July 29, 2026 the docket showed no proof of service on him, and it shows no ruling on the merits. Earlier, the owner of a San Francisco house used as Synapse's office sued him, Bryan Keltner and Synapse in 2021; the court sustained his and Synapse's demurrer with leave to amend in 2023, and the case was unresolved at the bankruptcy. According to press reports, three former employees sued Synapse and Pathak around 2019 alleging harassment and gender and age discrimination; the complaint is not retained, the suit was settled on terms not in the record, a settlement is not a finding, and Pathak called the allegations cancel culture run amok. ^{1 2 3 4}

analysisIn April 2024, while still Synapse's chief executive, Pathak co-founded the humanoid robotics company Foundation with Arjun Sethi, chief executive of the venture firm Tribe Capital, and Mike LeBlanc, a co-founder of Cobalt Robotics, according to the company's fundraising pitch as reported by the business press. A private-market data provider lists Foundation Robotics Labs of San Francisco with an $11 million Series A-1 round in August 2024 at a $73.33 million valuation and a $187 million Series A in August 2025 at a $1.32 billion valuation. Florida's registry lists Foundation Future Industries, Inc., a Delaware corporation registered there in April 2025, with Pathak as president. In January 2026 a technology newsletter reported, citing two sources, that Foundation Future was seeking up to $500 million at a valuation of more than $3 billion, and in March 2026 a news magazine described Pathak as co-founder and chief executive of a company developing humanoid robots, including for military use. The record does not establish whether the two Foundation companies are the same legal entity, and the funding figures do not come from company filings. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

analysisIn June 2024 a business-press report based on fundraising documents, which are not retained, said Foundation's pitch for the last $1 million of an $11 million seed round claimed that General Motors had committed to invest, was set to become its first customer with a targeted $300 million purchase order and had given it access to its factories, including a plant in Mexico. GM said it had never invested in Foundation, had no plans to and had never had any agreement with it, calling contrary claims fabricated; LeBlanc confirmed GM's points and said he was embarrassed that marketing materials overstating the relationship existed. Tribe Capital and Sethi declined to comment and Pathak did not respond at the time; in November 2024 he called the reporter highly unethical and alleged that the reporter had contacted an auto-industry union leader rather than GM, leading the union leader to threaten a strike if GM did not pull out. The data provider names Tribe Capital as investor in the August 22, 2024 round; no General Motors investment appears in the record. ^{1 6 4}