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Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire is once again drawing unwanted attention to the prominent venture firm after falsely accusing a Palestinian student of being behind the December 13 Brown University mass shooting and the subsequent murder of an MIT professor.<\/p>\n
In since-deleted posts on X, Maguire speculated that \u201cit seems very likely\u201d the student was the perpetrator, pointing to Brown \u201cactively scrubbing his online presence.\u201d In reality, authorities identified the shooter as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national who was later found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility. Brown officials said they removed the student\u2019s digital footprint as a protective measure against dangerous speculation.<\/p>\n
Fast Company republished<\/a> two of Maguire\u2019s deleted posts on Friday (he has previously left inflammatory content online and did not delete comments<\/a> he made proposing that the MIT professor was targeted for being Jewish). The incident follows months of controversial posts targeting Muslims and pro-Palestine activists, including calling New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani an \u201cIslamist\u201d in July. That post led to a swift online backlash, with nearly 1,200 founders and tech industry professionals signing an open letter<\/a> urging Sequoia to take action. An open letter later surfaced supporting<\/a> Maguire.<\/p>\n The newest episode raises questions about whether Sequoia\u2019s new leadership \u2014 managing partners Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, who took over last month \u2014 can or will rein in Maguire\u2019s social media activity. Chief operating officer Sumaiya Balbale left the firm<\/a> in August over Sequoia\u2019s inaction on Maguire\u2019s anti-Muslim comments, according to earlier reporting by the Financial Times. Former managing partner Roelof Botha, who stepped down in November, defended Maguire\u2019s behavior during an interview<\/a> at TechCrunch Disrupt in October, calling Sequoia a believer in its partners\u2019 right to \u201cfree speech.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cInternally, we celebrate diversity of opinions, and we need \u2018spiky\u2019 people inside Sequoia,\u201d Botha said, referring to Maguire. He offered that Maguire had a \u201cspecific profile\u201d that appeals to certain founders. Maguire has led investments in numerous defense tech and AI startups, and reportedly has deep connections with Elon Musk\u2019s companies, managing Sequoia\u2019s investments in Neuralink, SpaceX, The Boring Company, X, and xAI.<\/p>\n However, Botha acknowledged trade-offs to Maguire\u2019s outspokenness. \u201cDoes it come with trade-offs? Yes, it does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Lin and Grady have not publicly addressed Maguire\u2019s conduct since taking over leadership.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> The Council on American-Islamic Relations has called for Maguire\u2019s firing, telling Fast Company that his accusations are \u201cdeeply irresponsible and incredibly dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n TechCrunch has reached out to Sequoia for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n