U.S. prosecutors have subpoenaed Builder.ai’s former CFO as part of an ongoing investigation

￰0￱ are currently investigating the collapse of Builder. ai, a Microsoft-backed startup. Builder. ai’s former chief financial officer has been summoned by ￰1￱ and is expected to appear before a grand jury to assist the ongoing investigation into the AI firm’s ￰2￱ seek answers after AI startup’s sudden fall ￰3￱ have issued a subpoena signed by Jay Clayton, the ￰4￱ for the Southern District of New York, to Andres Elizondo, the former chief financial officer of ￰5￱ summons is due to an expanding investigation into the financial collapse of the once high-flying artificial intelligence startup backed by Microsoft .

Reportedly, Elizondo was ordered to appear before a grand jury in Manhattan in ￰6￱ served as CFO between 2021 and 2023 and was approached by FBI agents in August during a flight stopover in ￰7￱ for ￰8￱ previously indicated he remained in his post until July of that year, and the company had yet to appoint a permanent replacement at the time of its ￰9￱ agents reportedly handed him the subpoena in ￰10￱ was not considered a suspect or target in the investigation, but he has cooperated fully with authorities, according to a person familiar with the situation. Builder. ai, previously known as Engineer. ai, had positioned itself as a unique platform that could automate the creation of apps and websites using AI tools.

Co-founded by Sachin Dev Duggal, who referred to himself as the company’s “chief wizard,” ￰11￱ became one of the UK’s most celebrated tech startups, attracting investors including Microsoft and achieving a valuation of more than $1B at its peak. However, the company collapsed into insolvency in May 2025 after an internal review uncovered potentially fabricated sales and forced a significant reduction in its reported revenues to roughly a quarter of the earlier ￰12￱ faces revenue inflation claims In June, ￰13￱ was suspected of using a variety of methods to inflate its revenue figures, including improperly booked discounts, artificially small upfront deposits, and circular transactions with certain key ￰14￱ findings raised questions about the company’s accounting integrity and transparency to ￰15￱ representing Duggal have disputed the accuracy of the allegations, arguing that neither he nor ￰16￱ had misrepresented financial data.

A previous legal team retained by the company similarly maintained that its sales figures had been correctly ￰17￱ the company’s collapse, the U. S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York had already requested ￰18￱ to submit a range of documents concerning its financial reporting, accounting practices, and customer ￰19￱ subpoena served to Elizondo in August required him to produce communications dating back to January 2018 with individuals linked to the business, including communications with current, former, and potential ￰20￱ also demanded any records or correspondence relating to the accuracy of Builder. ai’s financial disclosures, including the reporting of bookings, sales, and ￰21￱ , FBI agents were still accessing Builder.

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