The founder of fashion rental technology business CaaStle has been sentenced to five years in prison after admitting to orchestrating a $300m (£223m) fraud that deceived hundreds of investors.
Christine Hunsicker, the former chief executive of CaaStle, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court on Thursday after pleading guilty to one count of securities fraud earlier this year.
The CEO was also handed three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $283.3m in restitution to victims, alongside the same amount in forfeiture.
CaaStle positioned itself as a major technology provider to the fashion rental market and previously worked with retailers including LK Bennett and Moss Bros in the UK.
Hunsicker had promoted the business as a rapidly growing fashion-tech company valued at more than $1.4bn, despite knowing it was facing dwindling cash reserves and mounting expenses, according to US prosecutors.
Prosecutors said that between 2019 and 2025 she provided investors with falsified income statements, fake audited accounts, fictitious bank records and sham corporate documents that overstated CaaStle’s revenue, profits and cash position.
Hunsicker also told some investors that their money would be used to purchase discounted shares from existing CaaStle shareholders, but prosecutors said the shareholders had been fabricated and the funds were instead channelled into the struggling business.
The misconduct continued even after CaaStle’s board removed Hunsicker as chair and banned her from soliciting further investment in December 2024, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said she went on to seek fresh funding for CaaStle and related venture P180, and in February 2025 attempted to sell a further $19m worth of CaaStle shares.
She continued meeting an investor even after law enforcement officers seized her electronic devices the following month, without revealing that an audit she had presented was fraudulent, prosecutors said.
CaaStle subsequently filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in June 2025.
CaaStle’s links to UK fashion
CaaStle had sought to become a key infrastructure provider for the growing fashion rental market, allowing retailers to add subscription services to their existing ecommerce businesses while it handled the technology and logistics behind the scenes.
The company expanded into the UK in 2021, partnering with Moss Bros on its Moss Box menswear rental subscription and with LK Bennett on its LK Borrowed service.
Its technology had also powered rental propositions for US fashion names including Banana Republic, Vince, Express and Walmart-owned Eloquii.
US attorney Jamie McDonald said Hunsicker had falsely presented CaaStle as a billion-dollar success while using “forged documents and fabricated audits” to secure investment.
Hunsicker pleaded guilty in March, with the offence carrying a maximum possible sentence of 20 years. Prosecutors had sought a considerably longer prison term of around 12-and-a-half years before she was ultimately sentenced to five.
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