He created one of the Argentine technological unicorns, sold it for a million dollars and his ex-wife reported him for fraud

Matias Woloski and Andrea Alejandra Luis They met in 2004, and from there they began a relationship that, between trips and a wedding in 2010, lasted until 2015, the year in which their divorce was finalized. However, she reported in 2023 for fraudsince he sold a company for a million-dollar sum which had been founded when they were together and was not part of the division of assets.

The company in question is Auth0 Inca computer security firm founded in 2013, considered one of the “Argentine unicorns”.

Today Woloski lives in Uruguay with his second wife and children, but he will have to face an investigation for fraud and economic gender violence. In addition, He was targeted by the tax authorities for possible tax evasion.

From divorce to denunciation

In 2015 the couple came to an end and signed the divorce. It was there that Woloski He said that there were no joint assets and that he was a self-employed taxpayerThe division of assets would only come the following year.

According to the woman’s account before the court, he was the one who made the couple’s financial decisions, but always with one caveat: She was never a co-owner of any account, nor did she know how much money they had.

Prior to the division of assets, Matías cut Andrea’s credit cards and prepaid card, and made a spreadsheet where he included her expenses. In addition, he asked her for half of the rent for living in the house that belonged to both of them and He offered her $200,000 to settle the marital partnershipHe also made it clear to her that if she did not accept, the situation would be resolved in court.

At the time, Woloski informed him that The company “Auth0” was valued at US$400,000, and that since he owned 33% of the shares (the other 33% belonged to co-founder Eugenio Pace and the remaining 33% to CEO Jon), She would be entitled to US$60,000.

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Eugenio Pace (right) and Matías Woloski (left), founders of Auth0.

In 2016, Andrea received an unexpected email from Matías, in which he told her that her grandmother had passed away and he suggested she see her. There, he apologized for not having been with her during the loss of her sister and offered her 50% of the apartment where he had lived. In exchange, she had to give him her shares.

Finally, a few days later, she received the request for the division of assets. Later, she received an email with the deed of transfer of the property as compensation, the document of dissolution of the marital partnership and the deed of allocation of shares to Woloski, which included the name of another company, based in the British Virgin Islands.

Andrea, without a lawyer, signed several of those documentsWhat I didn’t know was that by then Auth0 Inc was already worth a couple of million dollars.

Likewise, a series of events prior to the separation began to take on relevance.

For example, in 2014 He asked her for a marital consent to sell 95,000 shares of Auth0 Argentina SAwith the excuse that he didn’t want to bother her and travel in case of signing contracts, something that she didn’t want to sign without knowing what those papers said and what the situation of the company was.

At that time, a partner of Matías named Federico Jack contacted Andrea to tell her that he was going to sell the company and needed her consent. She reproached her then husband for having to call her a third party, which led to an argument in which, according to the complainant, he warned her that nothing was hers.

Finally, under pressure, he signed documents that he could not read, and which he now believes were papers to force him to sell Auth0 Inc. The company was finally sold in 2021 for US$6,500,000,000.

However, he maintains that Woloski created a number of companies during the time they were married, including Tokeen Ventores LTDwhich is based in the British Virgin Islands.

What is the status of the complaint?

Before reporting him, Andrea Luis summoned her ex-husband to three different mediations, which were never answered.

Once the complaint was filed in 2023, a first-instance judge initially dismissed it, arguing that the case was statute-barred.

However, this was appealed by the plaintiff, who argued that lThe crime was committed with the sale of Auth0 in 2021.

Finally, last week the judge’s decision was overturned by the judges of the Criminal Court. Pablo Guillermo Lucero and Magdalena Laiño, since they assured that “The existence of a situation of gender violence of an economic or patrimonial nature cannot be ruled out, which, in accordance with the aforementioned regulations, must be considered when analyzing the prescription claim presented.” Woloski will now be investigated by the courts.