Founder and former CEO of eFishery, Gibran Huzaifah, has eventually admitted to manipulating his company's financial reports in an effort to save the business from bankruptcy. This confession was conveyed directly by Gibran in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg News. 

The manipulation of the financial reports, according to Gibran, began in late 2018 when eFishery was facing a serious financial crisis. At that time, the company only had three months of operational funds and employed around 100 employees.

"I think I just did it to survive," Gibran said as quoted by Bloomberg News, on Monday, April 15, 2025. He admitted to preparing two versions of the financial report, one for the internal team, and another that had been inflated for investors.

The manipulation succeeded in persuading investors to invest more funds, which ultimately helped eFishery avoid bankruptcy. Within a few years, eFishery grew into one of Asia's most promising startups with a valuation of US$1.4 billion and employing more than 2,000 staff.

However, Gibran's financial lies were exposed when an internal investigation showed that the claim of US$752 million in revenue in the first nine months of 2024 was actually only US$157 million.

This manipulation had a major impact on major global investors who had invested their capital, including Japanese multinational investment holding company SoftBank Group Corp., Singaporean state-owned multinational investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte, California-based Chamath Palihapitiya-owned technology solution provider Social Capital, as well as Sequoia India and 42XFund from Abu Dhabi.

The estimated loss due to this manipulation reached US$300 million, although it is not yet known exactly how much money was actually lost because some shares may have been sold at a higher valuation previously.

In his statement, Gibran rejected allegations of theft of funds and emphasized that most of his employees were unaware of the manipulation that was carried out.

"I just want to say, my deepest apologies to everyone affected, especially the farmers because they are the reason why I did this," he said.

Background

Founded by Gibran, eFishery was considered one of the few promising startups, even targeting an initial public offering (IPO) on the Indonesian capital market.

However, that light began to dim when allegations of financial engineering emerged that shook the company's foundations.

The issue first surfaced in late 2023, followed by the company's official statement on December 17, which stated that the change in leadership was an effort to improve internal governance. Without explicitly mentioning the problems being faced, eFishery admitted that it was "responding to the circulating issues with full attention".

Suspicions grew stronger after Patrick Walujo, an investor from Northstar and CEO of GoTo, spoke out at a business forum. He called the fake financial reports received by investors "a shameful act". Although not directly involved in the investigation, Patrick expressed his belief that there had been systematic fraud in various lines of the company.

This statement cannot be separated from the leaked results of the initial investigation conducted by the consulting firm FTI Consulting, which state that eFishery management has inflated the company's revenue to almost US$600 million. Revenue that should have been at US$157 million was reported as US$752 million until the third quarter of 2024.

Not only that, the company is also suspected of reporting a profit of US$16 million to investors, when in fact it recorded a loss of US$35.4 million for the period from January to September 2023.

One of the most striking findings is the inflation of the number of fish feeding devices from 24 thousand units to 400 thousand units. FTI Consulting also found a dual reporting system that allegedly had been going on since 2018, indicating a systematic and protracted fraud.

eFishery, which once held the title of “unicorn” with a valuation of US$1.4 billion, after an injection of funds from G42, an AI technology company from the United Arab Emirates, is now on the brink. Gibran, the Founder, is also now facing criminal penalties for fraud.