Bill Gates' Daughter Phoebe Accused of 'Cookie Stuffing' Scheme at Startup Phia

Bill Gates’ daughter Phoebe has been accused of knowingly using a “cookie stuffing” scheme at her shopping startup Phia, allowing the company to collect commissions for sales it did not actually generate, according to Bloomberg. Phia, co-founded by Gates and fellow Stanford graduate Sophia Kianni, markets itself as a digital shopping assistant finding cheaper products and discount codes. Despite trying to distance herself from the “nepo baby” label, the venture attracted tens of millions of dollars from Silicon Valley and celebrity investors in its first funding round, promoted by Bill Gates.

The controversy erupted last month when Bloomberg reported Phia’s browser extension automatically inserted affiliate tracking cookies into online purchases, claiming commissions even without coupon or link use. This practice, “cookie stuffing,” can constitute federal wire fraud with a maximum 20-year prison sentence. Phia initially claimed the issue was a software problem discovered and fixed within 24 hours. However, internal Slack messages and source code, as reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday, show Gates and Kianni knew about the practice for months.

In a December exchange, Gates asked developers to ensure automatic cookie drops across retailers for monetization. Kianni later encouraged keeping the cookies dropping. After disabling the feature in July, daily revenue fell from about $80,000 to $10,000-$28,000. Phia attributes the decline to suspending other monetization tools and has begun reversing improperly attributed commissions while hiring a compliance chief.

The controversy coincides with scrutiny of Bill Gates over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, featured in recently released files with allegations of extramarital encounters and discussions on global health initiatives. Gates denies involvement in Epstein’s crimes, calling the association a mistake.