After investigative reporting<\/a> revealed his undisclosed involvement in shooting at a synagogue with KKK members at age 17, the CEO of Banjo will leave the company he founded.<\/p>\n In a short blog post<\/a>, the company announced a “change in leadership” and the resignation of its founder and CEO Damien Patton. The Utah-based company will transition “to a new, reconstituted leadership team effectively immediately.”<\/p>\n “I am confident Banjo’s <\/a> greatest days are still ahead, and will do everything in my power to ensure our mission succeeds,” Patton said in the post. “However, under the current circumstances, I believe Banjo’s best path forward is under different leadership.”<\/p>\n Patton leaves the company as valuable contracts with its home state of Utah<\/a> went on hold<\/a> in light of the explosive report, published in OneZero<\/a>. The story revealed that at age 17, Patton drove a KKK member past a synagogue while he shot at the building. He reportedly went into hiding at a white supremacist training camp after the incident.<\/p>\n In a statement provided to TechCrunch, Utah’s Attorney General office said it was “shocked and dismayed” at reports of Patton’s prior affiliation with hate groups.<\/p>\n The company’s CTO, Justin R. Lindsey, who joined the company full-time less than a year ago, will step into the top role.<\/p>\n Even prior to revelations of Patton’s past, Banjo had come under scrutiny<\/a> by privacy advocates for its pivot from a social tech company into a real-time intelligence platform for law enforcement. Last year, the company’s director of government affairs for Utah told a group of public officials that Banjo “essentially [does] most of what Palantir does, we just do it live.”<\/p>\n In its blog post announcing Patton’s departure, the company emphasized its “unswerving commitment” to protecting private data and characterized its work as “technology solutions that protect privacy.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tags:<\/b> Taylor Hatmaker<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After investigative reporting revealed his undisclosed involvement in shooting at a synagogue with KKK members at age 17, the CEO of Banjo will leave the company he founded. In a short blog post, the company announced a “change in leadership” and the resignation of its founder and CEO Damien Patton. The Utah-based company will transition “to a new, … Continue reading Banjo’s CEO resigns after report details KKK ties in his past<\/span><\/a> Continue Reading
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