Bill Gates' daughter accused of illicit scheme that could carry 20 years in prison
Phoebe Gates, daughter to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has come under scrutiny after being accused of 'cookie stuffing' sales on her AI shopping assistant, with the maximum prison sentence associated with a potential crime being 20 years.
Gates, alongside Sophia Kianni, co-founded AI shopping app Phia in an attempt to help people find the lowest price possible when ordering online, with the pair pushing a bold claim that their app would 'reinvent shopping' as we know it.
Phia has partnered with over 9,600 brands and received investment from a number of wealthy celebrities, including Khloé Kardashian and Sydney Sweeney, yet their impressive sales numbers allegedly aren't quite what they might seem from the outside.
Following a bombshell report by Bloomberg in early July, it was alleged that Phia had fraudulently tracked affiliate referrals for sales that had not necessarily been achieved through the app, overriding any referral codes from other affiliate platforms to use its own instead.
Cookie stuffing allegation could lead to prison time
While Phia had claimed that it was 'made aware' of the issue at the time of Bloomberg's initial reporting, further investigations discovered internal discussions on the company's internal Slack channels that suggested an awareness as early as December 2025.
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It appears as if all activity associated with cookie stuffing had ceased following the release of the report, but the activity itself is still deemed to be fraudulent and could potentially lead to prison time.
There have been several previous convictions associated with wire fraud after individuals such as Shawn Hogan and Brian Dunning were accused of cookie stuffing in relation to eBay's affiliate marketing program.
Hogan received a five-month prison sentence and a $25,000 fine, whereas Dunning's charge was 15 months in prison with three years of supervision beyond that after pleading guilty to a single instance of wire fraud.
Ariel Givner, a founder and principal attorney at Givner Law, suggests that the consequences for Gates could be far more severe though, as per the New York Post.
"It's typically treated as federal wire fraud in U.S. courts," Givner explained on X, noting that "there's a possibility of a max penalty of up to 20 years prison + fines/restitution."
Previous convictions have suggested that the actual time spent in prison is likely to be far lower, but it could depend on the severity of the activity and how much money was earned as a result of the allegedly fraudulent behavior.
Phia breaks silence on 'cookie stuffing' allegations
In response to a request from PEOPLE, a spokesperson for Gates and Phia has now responded to the allegations levied by Bloomberg, illustrating: "Any features causing misattributions were immediately removed over a month ago on July 7.
"We are reviewing every transaction, we are fully committed to and have already begun issuing all transaction reversals to brand partners as a result of any misattribution, and we are hiring a head of compliance to make sure something like this never happens again."
The company also asserted that "we are continuing to connect our users with items and offers from thousands of brand partners," adding that "we will learn from this and want to ensure our users have the best possible shopping experience, with features like our new digital closet and more to come."