Napster’s $3 Billion Investor Was a Fake, DOJ and SEC Allege in Fraud Charges

Fifty-seven-year-old Charles Cole is accused of conning Napster out of a nearly 25% ownership stake.

View of the judge's bench from the audience inside a federal courtroom in Manhattan on June 6, 2025.

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U.S. authorities have accused a North Carolina man of conning Napster out of a massive ownership stake by falsely pledging $3.36 billion he never had.

An indictment by the Department of Justice (DOJ), unsealed on Thursday (June 11) and obtained by Billboard, charges 57-year-old Charles Cole with three criminal fraud and conspiracy counts. Cole also faces parallel civil fraud claims a Thursday complaint from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which also names his attorney, Torben Welch, as a defendant.