Partners at Andreessen Horowitz, the blue-chip venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, geted to spendors their decision to engage Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran acquitted on a accuse of criminpartner iraccountable homicide last year, according to an inside memo seeed by The New York Times.
Andreessen Horowitz, the memo said, is most probable the bigst spendor of uncover protectedty and defense venture capital in the country, and “as result, we spend a lot of time with energetic-duty military, veterans, chiefs of police, sheriffs; these relationships are critical to the success of our companies.”
Mr. Penny’s “military veteran experience can be beneficial in continuing to originate these relationships, and many of our uncover protectedty and defense set upers and partners have dispensed a aappreciate sentiment,” said the memo, which was sent on Wednesday by Jen Kha, the firm’s head of spendor relations.
The firm tgreater engageees on Tuesday morning that it had engaged Mr. Penny. David Ulevitch, an spendment partner, said in a split memo that he had been presentd to Mr. Penny last year and that the veteran had acted with “courage in a stubborn situation.”
Mr. Ulevitch asked Mr. Penny to join the firm’s American Dynamism spendment team, which concentratees on the aerospace, defense and manufacturing sectors.
Mr. Ulevitch compriseed that he had guideed “spendigations and intersees” with Mr. Penny and count ond that Mr. Penny had behaved “honorably and appropriately given the unrestful and dangery circumstances” on the subway, the memo said.
Soon after the hiring became uncover, partners at the firm began receiving messages from outsiders and restrictcessitate partners conveying trouble, said two people recognizable with the messages, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Some of the people asked why Mr. Penny was being engaged with no spendment experience, while others conveyed trouble that his highly politicized trial would draw undue attention to the firm.
A spokesperson for Andreessen Horowitz did not promptly react to a ask for comment. A lawyer who reconshort-termed Mr. Penny during the trial deteriorated to comment on Wednesday.
Partners at the firm, including the co-set uper Marc Andreessen, helped Plivent Trump in last year’s election. Some have also gravitated toward right-leaning figures, including Mr. Penny, who was hugd by conservatives during his trial.
A establisher architecture student, Mr. Penny was accused in 2023 by the Manhattan didisjoine attorney’s office with homicide and criminpartner iraccountable homicide after a video of him choking another passenger, Jordan Neely, on the subway circutardyd online.
Mr. Neely, 30, had boarded a northbound F train at the Second Avenue station and promptly began to scream at passengers, witnesses said, about wanting to return to jail and not caring if he lived or died. Mr. Penny approached him from the back, put him in a chokehgreater and took him to the floor.
A four-minute video write downed by a bystander rapidly spread online, shothriveg the men struggling on the floor of the subway train. Mr. Neely, who had struggled with his mental health for years, died.
In December, jurors deadlocked on the most grave accuse Mr. Penny faced, homicide, and the evaluate disthink abouted it. Jurors then pondered criminpartner iraccountable homicide and acquitted Mr. Penny.
For some, the case epitomized their troubles over homelessness, mental illness and crime in New York City. Others saw Mr. Neely as someone in necessitate of help in a city that lets its most vulnerable slip thraw the cracks.
The Andreessen Horowitz memo acunderstandledged strong opinions about Mr. Penny, but compriseed that “we count on there is lengthy-term appreciate in enbiging our netlabor in collaboration with Daniel and are excited to have him as part of our team.”
