In a new report, US investment firm Hindenburg Research stated that Jack Dorseyโs mobile payments firm Block โwidely overstatedโ its user base. Amrita Ahuja, Blockโs Chief Financial Officer, is also mentioned in the report, know her biography and salary
According to the Hindenburg report, Jack Dorseyโs fintech firm Block committed $1 billion in financial fraud by overstating the number of users while understating customer acquisition costs.
The report also accused the companyโs Indian-origin CFO, Amrita Ahuja, of liquidating millions of dollars in equities during the pandemic as the firmโs price rose due to its facilitation of fraud.
The report claimed that โAs Blockโs stock soared on the back of its facilitation of fraud, co-founders Jack Dorsey and James McKelvey collectively sold over $1 billion of stock during the pandemic. Other executives, including CFO Amrita Ahuja and the lead manager for Cash App Brian Grassadonia, also dumped millions of dollars in stock.โ
Who is Block CFO Amrita Ahuja named in Hindenburg Research report, biography, age, salary, net worth in 2023
#AmritaAhuja is an Indian-origin CFO (Chief Financial Officer).
She currently works for #Square, a payments technology company based in San Francisco.
Ahuja was previously a partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. pic.twitter.com/6QCczaneM5
— Aniket (@anikett_121) March 23, 2023
Who is Amrita Ahuja?
Ahuja is the COO and CFO at Block, according to her LinkedIn profile. She began her career as an investment banker with Morgan Stanley in 2001.
From 1999 to 2000, Amrita went to the London School of Economics and Political Science to study a general course in Economics, and from 1997 to 2002 she earned her AB degree in Economics from Duke University and later in 2007, she got her master’s degree from Harvard Business School.
Reports estimate 40 year old Amrita Ahuja’s net worth between $9 Million dollars to $45.9 Million dollars, although these estimates are not confirmed. As per media reports, Amrita Ahuja earned $10 million dollars to $13 Million dollars as Chief Financial Officer at Block.
According to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article, her parents were Indian immigrants who ran a daycare center in a Cleveland suburb.
According to the report, Ahuja was drawn to Block (then Square) by its emphasis on empowering small business owners like her parents.
Ahuja previously worked at Walt Disney Co., News Corpโs former Fox division, and Activision Blizzard Inc. before joining Block.
While at Fox, she helped to launch the Hulu streaming service. She assisted the videogame company Activision Blizzard, which produces โCall of Duty,โ โCandy Crush,โ and โWorld of Warcraft,โ in shifting its business model from seasonal in-store sales to an online, always-on, multiplayer experience.
โOur two-year investigation has concluded that Block has systematically taken advantage of the demographics it claims to serve,โ Hindenburg wrote in its report. According to the research firm, Blockโs Cash App thrived on serving โunbankedโ customers.
According to the report, the US short-seller responsible for the over $100 billion market decline in Adani Group believed that 40% to 75% of the accounts they checked were fraudulent, fictitious, or extra accounts connected to a single person.
According to the report, the company took a different approach and targeted a highly โunderbankedโ demographic โ criminals.
The report further added, โCore to the issue is that Block has embraced one traditionally very โunderbankedโ segment of the population: criminals. The companyโs โWild Westโ approach to compliance made it easy for bad actors to mass-create accounts for identity fraud and other scams, then extract stolen funds quickly.โ
According to the report, instead of banning the users who were caught engaging in fraud, Block blacklisted them. According to the report, which cites former Block employees, these blacklisted accounts were frequently associated with hundreds of active accounts suspected of fraud.
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