relied heavily on teams of human workers—primarily located overseas—to manually process transactions in secret, mimicking what users believed was being done by automation

Example of "AI" hype when it's neither artificial nor intelligent.

misled investors by exploiting the promise and allure of AI technology to build a false narrative about innovation that never existed. This type of deception not only victimizes innocent investors...

Note that the crime is misleading investors, not anyone else, which is very telling. It's only a crime when you rip off other rich people.

Discussed here:
https://old.reddit.com/r/nottheonion/comments/1jygobw/ceo_of_ai_shopping_app_faces_40_years_for_using/