SoftBank's Vision Fund has filed a lawsuit against the founders of Social Media Startup IRL, accusing them of inflating user metrics, deceiving the fund about performance, and defrauding it of millions of dollars. SoftBank invested $150 million in IRL in May 2021, believing it had 12 million monthly active users, but later discovered that the numbers were fake. The company was allegedly using bots to create the illusion of a thriving social network. This lawsuit raises concerns about SoftBank's due diligence on its portfolio companies, following previous missteps with fraudulent crypto exchange FTX and devalued property firm WeWork.
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