Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire is once again drawing unwanted attention to the prominent venture capital firm after he falsely accused a Palestinian student of being behind the December 13 mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor.
In since-deleted posts on X, Maguire speculated that it “seems very likely” the student was the perpetrator, pointing to Brown “actively scrubbing his online presence.” In fact, authorities identified the shooter as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national who was later found dead in a warehouse in New Hampshire. Brown officials said they removed the student’s fingerprint as a safeguard against dangerous speculation.
Fast Company republication two of Maguire’s deleted posts on Friday (he has previously left inflammatory content online and did not delete comments did by suggesting that the MIT professor was targeted because he was Jewish). The incident follows months of controversial posts targeting Muslims and pro-Palestinian activists, including calling New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani an “Islamist” in July. That post led to a swift online backlash, with nearly 1,200 founders and tech professionals signing on open letter prompting Sequoia to take action. An open letter later appeared supporting Maguire.
The latest episode raises questions about whether Sequoia’s new leadership — managing partners Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, who took over last month — can or will rein in Maguire’s social media activity. CEO Sumaiya Balbale left the company in August over Sequoia’s inaction on Maguire’s anti-Muslim comments, according to earlier Financial Times reports. Former managing partner Roelof Botha, who resigned in November, defended Maguire’s behavior during an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt in October, calling Sequoia a firm believer in its partners’ right to “free speech.”
“Internally, we celebrate diversity of opinion and need ‘sharp’ people within Sequoia,” Botha said, referring to Maguire. He offered that Maguire had a “particular profile” that appealed to certain founders. Maguire has led investments in numerous defense technology and artificial intelligence startups and reportedly has deep ties to Elon Musk’s companies, managing Sequoia’s investments in Neuralink, SpaceX, The Boring Company, X and xAI.
However, Botha acknowledged compromises in Maguire’s honesty. “Does it come with compromises? Yes, it does,” he said.
Lynn and Grady have not spoken publicly about Maguire’s behavior since taking over.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco
|
13-15 October 2026
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called for Maguire’s firing, telling Fast Company that his accusations are “deeply irresponsible and incredibly dangerous.”
TechCrunch has reached out to Sequoia for comment.
