Phia's Latest Scandal: Is Phoebe Gates's Startup in Trouble?
Donnerstag, 16. Juli 2026 · 50 min
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Shownotes
Lawyer and The Fashion Law founder Julie Zerbo makes her Back Row pod debut to discuss the latest Phia scandal. The startup, founded by Bill Gates's daughter Phoebe Gates and her Stanford roommate Sophia Kianni, was just found to be taking credit for affiliate sales it did not drive. People are calling it "fraud" but is it, really? Can the Gates name and a slew of celeb founders help them sail through this unscathed?
Chapters:
Introduction
Phia's origin story and Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kiani's Stanford beginnings
The first scandal: Fortune's report on Phia's data collection
The second scandal: Bloomberg's cookie-stuffing investigation
Explaining cookie stuffing — and the Honey/PayPal lawsuits
Did Phia's investors do proper due diligence?
Could this be fraud? The legal answer
Does Phia's celebrity halo make it bulletproof?
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