What’s at stake?
It’s approaching the one-year anniversary of when one of Fresno’s biggest tech companies collapsed, taking down roughly 900 workers’ jobs with it.
It’s been nearly a year since homegrown Bitwise Industries – once the darling of the Central Valley tech industry – collapsed spectacularly in a scandalous bankruptcy that left hundreds of employees jobless and landed company executives in the crosshairs of the FBI.
Over the Memorial Day holiday weekend in 2023, Bitwise co-founders Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin Jr. told roughly 900 employees in Fresno and at other satellite offices around the country they were being placed on immediate furlough.
That was only the beginning of the company’s dramatic fall.
By June, all employees were out of a job and the company was filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
In November, Soberal and Olguin were charged by federal authorities with defrauding investors of $100 million. Both pleaded not guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheila K. Oberto. A plea deal is currently in the works and the case has been continued to July 18, The Fresno Bee reported in May.
And despite all the months that have gone by, it remains unclear whether anyone’s getting their money back from the company, experts told Fresnoland late last year. That includes employees – many of whom saw their final paychecks bounce – whose claims are pending in bankruptcy and civil court.
Fresnoland wants to hear former Bitwise workers’ reflections on all of the above, one year after the collapse. How have your lives changed? Did you struggle to pay bills? Did you find a new job? Did you change career paths or move somewhere else? Did you have any more thoughts on why what happened happened?
Please fill out our Google Form if you’re interested in sharing – we appreciate any input you can provide our reporting. Your name will not be printed with your responses unless you’ve given us express permission to do so.
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