Daniel Penny Is Hired by Venture Capital Firm Whose Founder Backed Trump
The New York Times
Mr. Penny, who was acquitted after choking a mentally ill subway passenger to death, will work for Andreessen Horowitz. Before the killing, he had been an architecture student.
Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran acquitted on a charge of criminally negligent homicide in Manhattan in December, has been hired by one of Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital firms to join its “American Dynamism” team.
Mr. Penny, a Long Island native and former architecture student, will work in a group that supports American interests, including the aerospace, defense and manufacturing sectors, according to the website of the company, Andreessen Horowitz.
Mr. Penny was charged in 2023 by the Manhattan district attorney’s office with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide after a video of him fatally choking another passenger, Jordan Neely, on the subway circulated online that May.
“We believe in Daniel and are excited to have him as part of our team,” David Ulevitch, a partner at the firm, wrote in a memo to employees on Tuesday that was relayed to The New York Times.
Mr. Ulevitch said in the memo that the firm plans to teach Mr. Penny “the business of investing” and that he will support several of the firm’s portfolio companies. On Andreessen Horowitz’s website, Mr. Penny is listed as a “deal partner.”
Margit Wennmachers, a spokeswoman for the firm, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Thomas Kenniff, Mr. Penny’s lawyer during the trial, said that he and his partner, Steven Raiser, were “extremely happy” about the news.
