Dan Price, the embattled CEO of credit card processor Gravity Payments, resigned Wednesday, the Seattle Times reported. Price surprised his 100-plus employees several years ago when he told them he was cutting his roughly $1 million U.S. salary to $70,000 and using the company’s profits to ensure everyone there would earn at least that much within three years. The story of Price’s salary change got a lot of media attention. However, his personal conduct has since come under greater scrutiny and he cited allegations made against him in his decision to resign. “My #1 priority is for our employees to work for the best company in the world, but my presence has been a distraction here,” Price wrote in a statement on Twitter. He founded the company 18 years ago. pic.twitter.com/yMsR8htUg8 —@DanPriceSeattle “I must also step down from these duties to focus full-time on fighting the false accusations leveled against me,” he wrote. “I am not going anywhere.”
Series of complaints
Earlier this year, Seattle prosecutors charged Price with misdemeanor assault on a woman and reckless driving. Prosecutors say Price tried to forcefully kiss a woman. He pleaded not guilty in May. the case remains ongoing. Price, 38, has also faced other legal problems. His brother Lucas sued him in 2015, claiming Dan Price was overpaying himself. A King County judge ruled that Dunn had not violated Lucas’ rights as a minority shareholder. Allegations that Price had abused his ex-wife Kristie Colon also surfaced that year. A Bloomberg report chronicled an October 2015 TEDx talk given by Colon, during which she described being beaten and dumped by her ex, without naming Price. Price told Bloomberg that those events “never happened.” Gravity Payments managing director Tammi Kroll will take over as CEO.
