The head of Carta’s troubled broker-dealer business has left the company, months after the group was publicly accused of self-dealing in a viral social media post, Fortune has learned.
David Kim, a longtime senior executive at Carta, who had returned to the company in 2019 after an approximately two-year hiatus, told employees in April that he was leaving the company, according to an internal message that was reviewed by Fortune. Carta has since removed him from the website, though the company hasn’t yet submitted documentation around his departure to securities regulator, FINRA, according to the regulator’s current records.
“Today will be my last day,” Kim wrote in a Slack message to Carta employees on Apr. 19, adding later that he looks forward “to being able to commit more of my time and energy to my family” and that he will be “rooting for you all, and will enjoy watching Carta grow!”
A Carta spokesperson confirmed Kim’s departure, but would not comment on the nature of his exit. Kim did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Kim continues to be listed on FINRA regulatory filings as the chief executive of Carta’s broker-dealer, Carta Capital Markets, which is the division that orchestrated tender offers and stock purchases. Carta CEO Henry Ward had told customers Carta would exit its secondaries business in January, shortly after one of its customers accused it of using his startup’s confidential data without his approval to build out its own order book. The customer’s allegations, which were posted on X, had gone viral, leading Carta to temporarily suspend its sales outreach.
Carta confirmed to Fortune on Thursday that it had completely exited the secondaries business, but that it still continues to do company-initiated transactions like tender offers.
Apart from his involvement in Carta’s liquidity business, Kim has long been involved in Carta operations, formerly as chief operations officer before he left the company in 2016, then later as head of operations when he returned, according to his LinkedIn. His most recent title, according to previous versions of Carta’s website, was chief delivery officer.
Carta has had a tumultuous year, dealing with multiple public scandals. Apart from the upheaval regarding its liquidity business, Carta is currently engaged in multiple lawsuits with former employees, including with its former CTO and a former sales rep who has accused its chief revenue officer of sexual harassment.
Carta, which works with approximately 40,000 startups, was last valued at $8.5 billion and is backed by venture capital firms including Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures.
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