Companions at Andreessen Horowitz, the blue-chip enterprise capital agency in Silicon Valley, defended to buyers their resolution to rent Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran acquitted on a charge of criminally negligent homicide final yr, in accordance with an inside memo seen by The New York Occasions.
Andreessen Horowitz, the memo stated, is almost definitely the most important investor of public security and protection enterprise capital within the nation, and “as outcome, we spend lots of time with active-duty navy, veterans, chiefs of police, sheriffs; these relationships are crucial to the success of our corporations.”
Mr. Penny’s “navy veteran expertise might be useful in persevering with to construct these relationships, and plenty of of our public security and protection founders and companions have shared the same sentiment,” stated the memo, which was despatched on Wednesday by Jen Kha, the agency’s head of investor relations.
The agency advised workers on Tuesday morning that it had employed Mr. Penny. David Ulevitch, an funding accomplice, stated in a separate memo that he had been launched to Mr. Penny final yr and that the veteran had acted with “braveness in a troublesome state of affairs.”
Mr. Ulevitch requested Mr. Penny to hitch the agency’s American Dynamism funding workforce, which focuses on the aerospace, protection and manufacturing sectors.
Mr. Ulevitch added that he had performed “investigations and interviews” with Mr. Penny and believed that Mr. Penny had behaved “honorably and appropriately given the chaotic and harmful circumstances” on the subway, the memo stated.
Quickly after the hiring grew to become public, companions on the agency started receiving messages from outsiders and restricted companions expressing concern, stated two individuals acquainted with the messages, who spoke on the situation of anonymity.
A few of the individuals requested why Mr. Penny was being employed with no funding expertise, whereas others expressed concern that his extremely politicized trial would draw undue consideration to the agency.
A spokesperson for Andreessen Horowitz didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. A lawyer who represented Mr. Penny through the trial declined to touch upon Wednesday.
Companions on the agency, together with the co-founder Marc Andreessen, supported President Trump in final yr’s election. Some have additionally gravitated towards right-leaning figures, together with Mr. Penny, who was embraced by conservatives throughout his trial.
A former structure scholar, Mr. Penny was charged in 2023 by the Manhattan district attorney’s office with manslaughter and criminally negligent murder after a video of him fatally choking one other passenger, Jordan Neely, on the subway circulated on-line.
Mr. Neely, 30, had boarded a northbound F prepare on the Second Avenue station and instantly started to scream at passengers, witnesses stated, about desirous to return to jail and never caring if he lived or died. Mr. Penny approached him from the again, put him in a chokehold and took him to the ground.
A four-minute video recorded by a bystander shortly unfold on-line, displaying the boys struggling on the ground of the subway prepare. Mr. Neely, who had struggled along with his psychological well being for years, died.
In December, jurors deadlocked on probably the most severe cost Mr. Penny confronted, manslaughter, and the judge dismissed it. Jurors then thought-about criminally negligent murder and acquitted Mr. Penny.
For some, the case epitomized their issues over homelessness, psychological sickness and crime in New York Metropolis. Others noticed Mr. Neely as somebody in want of assist in a metropolis that lets its most susceptible slip by the cracks.
The Andreessen Horowitz memo acknowledged robust opinions about Mr. Penny, however added that “we consider there’s long-term worth in increasing our community in collaboration with Daniel and are excited to have him as a part of our workforce.”
