Flipcause executives took millions while nonprofits awaited donations

For nearly a year before it filed for bankruptcy, Flipcause paid over $3 million to executives, all while nonprofits’ requests to have donations transferred to them went unanswered. 

The transactions were discussed in bankruptcy court during a Dec. 22 hearing on the Oakland-based company’s request for protection under Chapter 11. 

In its bankruptcy filing, Flipcause revealed that it owes $29 million to over 3,200 nonprofits across the country for donations the company never transferred. 

‘Corporate greed overriding ethical responsibility’

Primitiva Hernandez, executive director of 805UndocuFund, called Flipcause’s pay outs while nonprofits were left waiting for donation transfers “a stark example of corporate greed overriding ethical responsibility.”

“These funds were never meant to enrich executives, they were entrusted to Flipcause to be held temporarily and transferred to mission-driven organizations serving people in crisis,” Hernandez told Oakland Voices. “Instead, nonprofits and vulnerable families were treated as expendable.”

805UndocuFund supports immigrant families and disaster-impacted communities across the Central Coast of California. Flipcause owes the organization $352,500. The impact has been “devastating,” Hernandez said. 

“These are not surplus dollars or discretionary funds, they are community-raised resources meant to cover food, emergency assistance, legal support, and rapid response during moments of acute crisis,” she said. “The failure to release these funds has forced our organization to delay aid, stretch already-limited capacity, and make painful decisions while community need continues to escalate.”

805UndocuFund is one of 20 Flipcause “creditors” with the largest “unsecured claims,” bankruptcy court records show. Flipcause owes each creditor between $1.2 million to $118,494. The company owes at least 30 creditors, mainly nonprofit organizations, over $100,000 each. 

Flipcause leaders have not responded to inquiries from Oakland Voices.

Flipcause Executive Chairman Emerson Ravyn testified that he received $455,400 in “bridge financing” in anticipation of a sale that never happened. His brother, former CEO Rolando Valiao received $130,000. Companies controlled by the brothers received an additional $2.9 million, according to bankruptcy filings and testimony during the Dec. 22 hearing.

Flipcause insiders paid themselves over $3.8 million

Court documents show Flipcause paid $3,830,975 to executives, family members, and a web of related entities between December 2024 and the Dec. 19, 2025 bankruptcy filing. 

Ravyn and his related entities received about $3.28 million, including:

• $455,400 to Ravyn, described as a “board-approved external investment initiative.”
• $2.76M to RGI Venture Studio, a corporation he testified he owned.
• $66,469 to Lockwell, a cybersecurity firm that Ravyn founded, serves as CEO of, and that has partnered with Flipcause.

Ravyn’s brother, Valiao, former Flipcause CEO, received $270,125, including 

• $130,000 personally.
• $140,125 to “Ocean”, a business processing company Flipcause outsourced work to which is run by Valiao under his alias, “Romeo Ocean,” Ravyn testified.

CEO Sean Wheeler received $212,333, including

• $29,000 for a “board-approved external investment initiative” and 
• $183,333 for salary.

Jessica Wheeler, who was previously listed as “Lead Documentation Manager” and “Fiscal Sponsor Partnerships manager,” on Linkedin and other websites, received $63,448 for salary. 

It’s not clear if Sean Wheeler and Jessica Wheeler are related.

‘Bridge financing to the exit’

California’s attorney general issued a cease and desist order in November demanding Flipcause cease operations. Flipcause appealed the order.

Under cross-examination by California Deputy Attorney General Kim Kasreliovich at the bankruptcy hearing, Ravyn testified that the payments were a “bridge financing to the exit,” or repayments of loans executives claimed to have made to the company–loans that would be repaid when they sold Flipcause.

“In 2022, at the height of growth and scale, and once we entered into the transaction with our investment banks… we initiated interest-bearing secured collateralization of a few external investment initiatives,” Ravyn testified. 

But the sale never happened. Flipcause spent three years trying to sell the company, according to court filings. In 2023, Flipcause hired an investment banker, Horizon Growth Partners, LLC, and conducted an auction in July 2025, but found no buyer. They continued trying to sell the company through November.

Ravyn acknowledged the payments under cross-examination. Kasreliovich asked, “So, on this list, Items 1 through 5, are either you or your brother. Is that correct?”

“That is correct,” he replied.

Flipcause has $70,000 in its Citibank account, according to filings. The company owes $1.225 million to secured creditors, who are entitled to be paid before nonprofits. With its liabilities exceeding assets by $10 million, unsecured creditors (nonprofits who used the platform for donations) may only receive a fraction of what Flipcause owes, if anything. 

Upcoming hearing on emergency relief, assets sale

Its payment processor, Stripe, has frozen $1.45 million in payments made to the Flipcause platform. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas M. Horan refused to grant Flipcause access to that money. Horan said the motion to force the release of the money didn’t give creditors and Stripe proper notice. Another hearing on Flipcause’s request is scheduled for Jan. 5, 2026.

Flipcause has also filed a motion to sell its assets. The company valued its platform and website at $15 million. Although no buyer has emerged since 2023, the company hopes to find a lead bidder — or “stalking horse” — by Feb. 4, 2026.