Foundation missed payroll after its CEO borrowed US$4.6 million, CNBC reports

Foundation Future Industries, a San Francisco maker of military humanoid robots backed by Eric Trump, hasn’t paid its staff since it missed payroll on 30 October, CNBC reports, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter. CEO and co-founder Sankaet Pathak borrowed US$4.6 million from the company last year, and public records show an LLC listing him as its sole principal bought a US$4.6 million property in Sausalito, California, in October 2025.

CNBC’s Hugh Son published the report on Saturday 14 November, US time. The sources asked for anonymity because Foundation is private. A spokesman for Pathak received a detailed list of questions on Thursday and didn’t respond, and Eric Trump didn’t respond to requests for comment, CNBC says.

What CNBC found

Foundation also ran short of payroll money in August. Staff were paid about two days late after an existing investor provided a bridge loan, the people said. In a memo to staff this week, Pathak said he was working to source money to pay back wages.

Pathak is Foundation’s sole board member and owns most of its shares. Prospective investors have raised governance concerns about that structure, the people said, and it let him take the loan, which he called short-term. Existing investors know about it through the company’s financial disclosures. “This is what happens in a company with no governance,” one of the people told CNBC. CNBC didn’t report the loan’s interest rate or repayment terms.

The US$3 billion raise and the Pentagon money

Pathak has been trying since at least January to raise hundreds of millions of dollars at a US$3 billion valuation, and insiders worry the company could fold without new funding, CNBC reports. He has said Foundation is close to unveiling a weapons-ready humanoid.

Reports in April said Foundation had won about US$24 million in Pentagon research contracts, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren responded that Eric Trump’s involvement “looks like corruption in plain sight.” A person familiar with the matter told CNBC the US$24 million went to Boardwalk Robotics, which Foundation acquired in late 2024, not to Foundation itself. Foundation based its first model, the Phantom MK-1, on Boardwalk’s Alex robot, the person said. A separate person with knowledge of the Boardwalk deal said its performance milestones haven’t been met.

Eric Trump is an investor and chief strategy adviser, and the size of his stake isn’t public. A spokesperson told the Financial Times he had “no involvement in Foundation’s management, operations, strategic decisions or commercial activities, including the solicitation, negotiation, procurement or execution of any government contracts.”

Pathak’s last company

Before Foundation, Pathak founded Synapse, a fintech middleman that let companies such as Mercury and Dave offer accounts through small banks. Synapse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 22 April 2024, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CNBC says more than 100,000 Americans were locked out of about US$265 million in deposits. The bankruptcy trustee, former FDIC chair Jelena McWilliams, said up to US$96 million in customer funds was missing. Pathak blamed partner bank Evolve, which blamed Synapse.

The CFPB sued Synapse in August 2025, saying the partner banks held between US$60 million and US$90 million less than Synapse’s records showed. CNBC, citing independent journalist Jason Mikula, says Pathak withdrew US$320,000 in loans from Synapse as it neared bankruptcy.

Talks with Israel’s military

On 11 November, Foundation co-founder and president Mike LeBlanc told the Financial Times the company is in direct talks with senior Israeli military officials about supplying up to 1,000 Phantom MK1 robots to patrol tunnels in Gaza, and The Telegraph reported the same. The FT reported talks, not an order, and no contract has been announced.