Daniel Penny is hired by top Silicon Valley investment firm months after being acquitted in Subway chokehold case
The Marine veteran who strangled a fellow New York City subway passenger to death has been hired by a premier Silicon Valley investment firm – two months after he was staring at a 20-year prison sentence.
Daniel Penny was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter in December 2024 after he grappled Jordan Neely, 30, to the ground and held him around the neck for about six minutes in a chokehold during a frantic subway ride in 2023.
Now, the 26-year-old is working as a deal partner for Andreessen Horowitz in Manhattan on the firm’s American Dynamism team – a department that invests in aerospace, defense, public safety, and education, amongst other sectors, states their website.
Neely’s death was captured entirely on video by other passengers, including Mexican freelance journalist Juan Alberto Vázquez, sparking national outcry and jaded opinion on whether Penny was a subway hero or a reckless killer.
A memo seen by The Free Press and sent by a general partner at the firm, David Ulevitch to all employees, confirmed the hire stating: “He will learn the business of investing and he will work to support our portfolio companies.”
Ulevitch sent the note Tuesday and went so far as to praise Penny’s heroism on that ill-fated day.
He went on: “I believe, as I know many of you do, that Daniel acted with courage in a tough situation. He was acquitted of all charges.
“Beyond that, it has always been our policy to evaluate the entire person and not judge them for the worst moment in their entire life.”
The general partner added that Penny’s former experience in the United States Marine Corps would bode well for the firm’s relationships with the Department of Defense and the public safety sector.
But during Penny’s manslaughter trial in November 2024, jurors and Neely’s family were shown multiple clips of the horrific subway incident – footage that left Neely’s father in despair and forced him to step out of the courtroom, reported PBS.
In the incident, on May 1, 2023, Neely, a Black homeless man, stepped onto the subway at the 2nd Avenue station and according to witnesses at the time, began “making verbal threats” to passengers.
As the train arrived at the Broadway-Lafayette stop, Penny leaped into action and placed Neely in the chokehold – until he could no longer breathe and his body became motionless.
Neely had a criminal history of over 40 previous arrests as well as a history of mental illness at the time of his death.
Following the incident, the U.S. turned on Penny, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., indicted him for one count of manslaughter in the second degree and one count of criminally negligent homicide. Penny faced four years in prison for a criminally negligent homicide charge and up to 15 years for manslaughter.
