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[Tokyo Joe]

... as crazy as it sounds, that felony becoming public might not be as unrelated as it might seem on the surface.  Doesn't the SEC have some say in Prosper's future?  And aren't felonies something that can disqualify you from certain positions under SEC jurisdiction?

You guys are excercising fantasy.  An arrest isn't a felony.  In the United States we have this little rule called "innocent until proven guilty".  So, no.

I was just parroting bama's word for it.  I assumed bama meant he was convicted of a felony.

Next time, I'll skip bama and check the source myself directly.

[Urbi_et_Orbi]

For the record, below is what appeared on John Witchel's bio page as part of the Prosper/About Us.

Management Team


John Witchel
Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder

Mr. Witchel is a veteran entrepreneur whose expertise in massively scaleable architectures and high-performance computing helped spawn a number of successful start-up companies.

As a technology visionary, he is responsible for the breakthrough phenomenon of FlashMob Supercomputing, a massive computing collaboration designed to make supercomputing available to the masses.

Prior to co-founding Prosper, Mr. Witchel developed BrowserCam, a patent-pending online tool for testing the cross-browser compatibility of websites. He was also CEO and co-founder of Red Gorilla, a pioneer in online application syndication. Prior to Red Gorilla, he founded XCom Corporation, a leading web consultancy that was acquired by USWeb/CKS, where Mr. Witchel served as a managing partner.

He holds a M.S. from the University of San Francisco and a B.A. in political science from Stanford University. He is a former American record holder and NCAA champion in swimming.

John Witchel’s Education

    *
      University of San Francisco

      BS, Computer Science, December 2004
    *
      Stanford University

      BA, Political Science, 1986 — 1990

      Activities and Societies:
          Swimming

So... either his resume on linkedin.com mistakenly says he got an undergraduate degree instead of a masters degree from USF, or he has lied about his qualifications to run a very complex website from the very beginning.  Which seems more likely?

Interesting observation, but then again, I am not surprised to see that JW and Prosper can't even get THIS right.

[bamalucky]

I never said he was convicted of a felony.

Although i am saying he was arrested for one.

[ira01]

http://blog.prosper.com/2008/08/14/site-update-%e2%80%93-august-14-2008/#comments

Sadly, John has decided to leave the company to pursue other passions.

I.e., he got canned.  This is the typical public statement issued when someone gets fired.

Separately, Tom Pigoski is currently on family leave; however, Prosper has recently bolstered its security and fraud team and it is in highly capable hands.

It's hard to keep up with all the changes and posts about them in the last two days, but didn't someone post Pigoski's linkedin profile stating his Prosper tenure as July 2007-July 2008 (or something like that)?  Someone on family leave would list their position as July 2007-present.  This doesn't make sense.

[Fred93]

It's hard to keep up with all the changes and posts about them in the last two days, but didn't someone post Pigoski's linkedin profile stating his Prosper tenure as July 2007-July 2008 (or something like that)?  Someone on family leave would list their position as July 2007-present.  This doesn't make sense.

Someone posted that about Witchel, not Pigoski.

[Urbi_et_Orbi]

It's hard to keep up with all the changes and posts about them in the last two days, but didn't someone post Pigoski's linkedin profile stating his Prosper tenure as July 2007-July 2008 (or something like that)?  Someone on family leave would list their position as July 2007-present.  This doesn't make sense.

Someone posted that about Witchel, not Pigoski.

You guys may be referring to Tom Underwood.

[ira01]

... as crazy as it sounds, that felony becoming public might not be as unrelated as it might seem on the surface.  Doesn't the SEC have some say in Prosper's future?  And aren't felonies something that can disqualify you from certain positions under SEC jurisdiction?

You guys are excercising fantasy.  An arrest isn't a felony.  In the United States we have this little rule called "innocent until proven guilty".  So, no.

This is a common misperception, but "innocent until proven guilty" only applies in criminal trials.  In other contexts, mere arrests and/or charges filed (without a conviction) can have serious repurcussions.  Someone can be held in jail for an extended period of time pending trial, for example, despite being "innocent until proven guilty" for purposes of the trial (for example, OJ spent what, about a year in jail after his slow speed chase in the bronco before being acquitted in his criminal trial).  And although OJ's slow speed chase may have indicated an attempt to flee, many others are held in jail pending trial without any such facts, whether because they can't make bail or because no bail is allowed. 

Besides pretrial detention, there are other negative ramifications that can flow before a conviction.  For example, an attorney arrrested for certain types of crimes will be summarily suspended from the practice of law pending disposition of the criminal charges.  That means he/she can no longer support him/herself by practicing his/her profession.  I believe that an arrest of a teacher on certain types of charges will also lead to being removed from the classroom, and even if acquitted of the charges (or if charges are never filed), can still be prevented from returning to the classroom.  And, of course, arrests are public records, so publicity of an arrest can cause all sorts of reputational harm even absent charges or conviction.

However, in this particular case, I agree that attributing JW's sudden departure to Bama's scoop is pretty fanciful.  I can't imagine that the SEC (or anyone else) would care very much about a smoke bomb at a sorority event 20 years ago when JW was in college, regardless of whether he was ever charged and/or convicted of anything.

[ira01]

It's hard to keep up with all the changes and posts about them in the last two days, but didn't someone post Pigoski's linkedin profile stating his Prosper tenure as July 2007-July 2008 (or something like that)?  Someone on family leave would list their position as July 2007-present.  This doesn't make sense.

Someone posted that about Witchel, not Pigoski.

You guys may be referring to Tom Underwood.

Yeah, it definitely wasn't JW I was confusing this with, but it may have been Underdown.  Regardless, I agree with the poster who said that it is not typical to remove someone from the website just because they went on family leave.  I think there is also more to this than we know (so far).

[Urbi_et_Orbi]

Before I get crucified by the fact-checkers...Underdown...

Apologies.

[Fred93]

Before I get crucified by the fact-checkers...Underdown...

According to linkedin, Thomas Underdown, formerly of Prosper Marketplace, is now a new account manager at Cord Blood Registry.

[Urbi_et_Orbi]

Before I get crucified by the fact-checkers...Underdown...

According to linkedin, Thomas Underdown, formerly of Prosper Marketplace, is now a new account manager at Cord Blood Registry.

It sounds like a natural progression.  He no longer has to listen to co-workers bloviate about how hard it is to squeeze blood from their clients.

[xraider]

Corrected:

http://blog.prosper.com/2008/08/14/site-update-%e2%80%93-august-14-2008/#comments

Sadly, John has decided to leave the company to pursue other passions.

John is an entrepreneur at heart and has started several successful companies that he proceeded to run into the ground. Creating startups is something he is very passionate about. Comfortable that Prosper was in capable hands, and afraid he would be blamed for killing another company,John felt it was a good time to step down to develop other ideas he has.

Chris Denend, who has served as Prosper’s Vice President of Engineering for the last three years, has taken John’s place as CTO.

Separately, Tom Pigoski is currently on family leave; however, Prosper has recently bolstered its security and fraud team and it is in highly capable hands.

LOL.  How do you spell spin?

[aaaggg]

This can't be a long planned move.  Chris Denend is a highly capable release manager.  He's utterly incapable of just about any other management responsibility.  If Witchel is not replaced promptly as CTO with a qualified individual, it must mean the VCs have given up on Prosper.

[Urbi_et_Orbi]

This can't be a long planned move.  Chris Denend is a highly capable release manager.  He's utterly incapable of just about any other management responsibility.  If Witchel is not replaced promptly as CTO with a qualified individual, it must mean the VCs have given up on Prosper.

I don't know.  Going through the effort of separating from the chief operational exec. doesn't really suggest they've given up on Prosper, just that they've given up on Witchel.

[112233]

welcome inside person, whoever you are