Selena Gomez defends herself against fraud accusations for her mental health app

BarcelonaSinger and actress Selena Gomez has had to defend herself against accusations of fraud following a lawsuit filed against her by several investors in the mental health start-up Wondermind. In statements to People magazine, Gomez's lawyer, Mathew S. Rosengart, assured that the accusations are baseless. "We will file a motion to dismiss the unfounded claims against her," he stated.

Wondermind was launched in 2021, with Gomez as co-founder, "chief impact officer," and head of marketing. The singer and actress's mother, Mandy Teefey, and her former partner, Daniella Pierson, also had stakes in the company. In the lawsuit, investors detail that in 2022 they invested 1.2 million dollars expecting Gomez to leverage her fame and popularity to boost the company. They emphasize that they were led to believe that an innovative app would be created to provide tools for mental health improvement, that advertising deals would be closed, and that work was already being done on features with celebrities.

They claim that the promises were not fulfilled and that "for three years, while the company was silently collapsing, none of its founders, executives, or advisors spoke to the investors." Furthermore, according to the complaint, the company reported a valuation of 95 million dollars in 2022, when investors were allegedly led to believe that there would be corporate alliances with companies like JPMorgan, in addition to advertising deals, celebrity features, and the innovative app.