Foundation Future Industries, a San Francisco military-robotics startup advised and backed by Eric Trump, missed payroll on Oct. 30 and had not paid workers as of this week, CNBC reported, citing people with direct knowledge of the private company¹.

CNBC said some employees were angry because chief executive and co-founder Sankaet Pathak borrowed $4.6 million from the company last year, which the people described as a short-term loan used toward a luxury home¹. Public records show an LLC that names Pathak as sole principal bought a $4.6 million Sausalito, California, property in October 2025, CNBC reported¹.

A spokesman for Pathak acknowledged receiving CNBC's list of points on Thursday but did not comment, the outlet said¹. Pathak told employees this week in a memo that he was working to source money for back wages, according to CNBC¹.

Pathak is Foundation's sole board member and owns most of the shares, a structure that has concerned some prospective investors, the people told CNBC¹. Existing investors know of the loan through financial disclosures, those people said¹. The company also ran out of cash for payroll in August and paid workers after about two days once an existing investor provided a bridge loan, CNBC reported¹.

Pathak has been seeking hundreds of millions of dollars at a $3 billion valuation, CNBC said, and has described a next-generation weapons-ready robot¹. Articles and interviews have said the company won $24 million in Pentagon contracts; people familiar with the matter told CNBC those figures came from Foundation's late-2024 acquisition of Boardwalk Robotics, which held existing government research contracts¹.

Eric Trump was introduced in an April television interview as an investor and chief strategy adviser; the size of his stake is unclear, CNBC said¹. He did not respond to CNBC's requests for comment¹. His spokesperson told the Financial Times, as cited by CNBC, that he had no involvement in Foundation's management, operations, strategic decisions or commercial activities, including government contracts¹. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in April that the arrangement looked like corruption; CNBC quoted that on-record criticism¹.

CNBC noted Pathak previously founded Synapse, which collapsed in 2024 and left many customers without access to deposits; it said he took loans from Synapse as it neared bankruptcy, citing independent reporting, and that a grand jury later examined possible misconduct at Synapse without the Wall Street Journal naming Pathak¹.