Former CEO of Henderson-based Parler sues over ouster

The former CEO of Parler, a social media platform based in Henderson, has filed suit against the company and its current owner, claiming she forced him out and stole his multimillion-dollar stake in the enterprise.

According to the lawsuit filed Monday in District Court, John Matze argues that he was forced out of the company founded in 2018 as a conservative alternative to Twitter just days after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which left five dead.

In the wake of the attack, numerous Parler users were arrested and charged with threatening violence against elected officials or for their role in participating in the attack directly, according to Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform who asked the FBI in January to investigate the role the platform had on the attack.

The lawsuit lists the company; its owner Rebekah Mercer; current CEO Mark Meckler; investors Jeffrey Wernick and Dan Bongino; and a corporation allegedly controlled by Mercer as defendants. Mercer is a prominent conservative donor and the daughter of Robert Mercer, a hedge fund manager who co-founded the now-defunct London political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

Neither Matze’s attorney nor Parler responded to requests for comment Tuesday evening.

The complaint alleges that the group schemed to steal Matze’s 40 percent stake and force him out while continuing to use software he created to run the service. It argues that Mercer is moving the site away from the free expression venue he created and is “now being hijacked to advance the personal political interest and personal advantages” of Mercer and the other defendants, the report said.

According to the complaint, Mercer “seemed to lose interest in Parler” in the fall of 2019, but became more interested in the platform in late 2020 as the site became more popular. Mercer’s involvement with the site was originally kept a secret, the complaint said, but became public in November 2020.

On Jan. 9, three days after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Parler was suspended from the Apple App Store. On Jan. 11, Amazon suspended the site from its hosting service as well. Both companies claimed that Parler “had not done enough to preclude extreme or violent rhetoric on the platform,” according to the complaint.

In response to the criticisms, Matze claims he suggested that Parler ban any known extremist groups from the platform to prevent them from inciting violence, but according to the complaint, Mercer refused. Matze said defendant Meckler spoke to him on Mercer’s behalf and said she wanted Parler to be the “tip of the conservative spear,” the complaint said.

Matze claims that on Jan. 28, defendant Wernick called him and “threatened him with financial ruin if he did not immediately sign a release of claims and resign,” adding that he would be “buried under an avalanche of legal claims and expenses” if he refused, the complaint said.

When Matze refused to step down, the complaint alleges Meckler fired him the next day and said he would be taking over as acting CEO.

Matze is seeking an unspecified amount in damages.

Contact Alexis Ford at aford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0335. Follow @alexisdford on Twitter.