Shiloh Luckey started ComplYant, a Los Angeles company that helped businesses with tax rules. She raised over $13 million from big investors. Now, federal agents are investigating her for lying to investors and banks. This is surprising because Luckey was well-known for giving money advice on TikTok.
According to Business Insider, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has filed a lawsuit against Luckey. They say she lied about how well her company was doing and used millions of dollars from investors for herself. The SEC says Luckey told investors that ComplYant was making over $250,000 each month by September 2022. But the truth is very different. The company never made more than $620 in one month and usually made only about $250 per month.
Luckey also told investors that dozens or hundreds of new paying customers were signing up every month. In reality, the company got fewer than four new subscribers each month on average. The investors who believed her claims lost a lot of money.
Luxury spending and broken promises define the scandal
ComplYant was started in 2019 to help small businesses deal with complicated tax laws. In 2022, the company raised $5.5 million from investors. This funding round was led by Craft Ventures, a well-known San Francisco investment firm. One of its founders is David Sacks, who also advises the White House.
The SEC claims Luckey took $2.2 million from the company and spent it on personal things. She allegedly used the money to pay for her house, her car, and Super Bowl tickets. The funds also went toward expensive vacations to Aspen, Miami Beach, Turks and Caicos, and Lisbon. Most shocking of all, she apparently paid for her wedding in the Caribbean with investor money.
ComplYant suddenly closed last year. Luckey stopped talking to the more than 50 employees she had hired. It took seven weeks for all workers to get their last paychecks. Some employees found out that money they put into their retirement accounts was missing. This kind of behavior from CEOs echoes other controversial executive actions that have caught public attention recently.
The FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office started officially investigating in April this year. When someone called Luckey to ask about the charges, she said “I don’t have anything to offer you” and hung up the phone.
Even after closing her company and facing serious criminal charges, Luckey keeps posting videos about taxes and money management on TikTok. She has nearly 24,000 followers there. In October, she started a new company called HabitLoop. She describes it as a tool to help people manage their money better.
In a video, she said she grew up with “very poor financial habits” and that HabitLoop is “something I built on hard lessons.” While tech innovations continue to emerge, some developments show how rapidly the business world is evolving, from corporate leaders facing unexpected charges at restaurants to new financial regulations.
The SEC also discovered that Luckey claimed to be a Certified Public Accountant, or CPA, but there is no record showing she ever got that license. She is defending herself in court without a lawyer and has not responded to the SEC’s charges yet.
Published: Dec 16, 2025 01:15 pm