The top two executives of Mozido, a financial technology company that raised some $300 million to develop a mobile payments business, have quietly left the company.
On its web site, Mozido currently lists Todd Bradley as its CEO, but Bradley said in a brief interview that he left the company in June. Bradley’s departure appears to have left Mozido without a chief executive officer. Bradley has also left Mozido’s board but the company’s web site still lists Bradley as a director.
Scott Ellyson, Mozido’s chief financial officer who is listed on Mozido’s web site as its second-most senior executive, has also left the company, according to Bradley. Ellyson’s LinkedIn page currently does not mention his time at Mozido. He did not respond to a request for comment.
The unpublicized departure of Mozido’s top two executives is the latest sign of struggle at the company based in Austin, Texas. Three weeks ago, Michael Liberty, the founder of Mozido, was sentenced to four months in prison and a $100,000 fine by a federal judge. Liberty pleaded guilty in November 2016 to making illegal campaign contributions.
Liberty, who played a prominent role in Mozido’s fundraising and dealmaking, continues to battle the Securities & Exchange Commission in a separate matter. The SEC has accused Liberty of intentionally misleading a federal judge with fraudulent financials in order to evade $5.4 million of disgorgement stemming from an SEC enforcement action against Liberty several years ago. Liberty has denied he misled the SEC or a federal judge.
Mozido was the subject of a Forbes Magazine story published in July 2016 that suggested the company had little to show after years in business and was dealing with some serious problems, including a cash crunch and Liberty’s previous dealings. Backed by Wellington Management, hedge fund billionaire Julian Robertson and Google billionaire Eric Schmidt’s venture fund, Mozido was one of the most richly funded mobile payments start-ups and at one point sported a valuation of $5.6 billion. In recent months, the company has secured a $70 million loan from Brevet Capital Management, the proceeds of which Mozido used to make months of delayed payroll payments to employees. Mozido has also been trying to sell PayEase, a payments processor it purchased in China that generates most of Mozido’s revenue.
Mozido has run through several top executives over the years. Its board has been a revolving door that has previously included the likes of Randi Zuckerberg and the former CEOs of Priceline, First Data and Interpublic. But all those board members are gone as is Bradley, who used to run Hewlett-Packard’s biggest business unit before he spent about 1.5 years at Mozido.
These days Mozido, which advertises its cutting-edge technology, is not keeping its web site up to date. It lists Peter W. Smith as a member of its advisory board. Smith had been part of the Mozido story for years, previously sitting on the company’s board. He was also very involved in Mobile Media and Affinity Mobile, the companies that morphed into Mozido years ago. A Republican activist, Smith committed suicide in May 2017 and his death drew headlines because he had told The Wall Street Journal in the days prior to his death that he had tried in 2016 to obtain emails he thought Russian hackers had stolen from Hillary Clinton.
Mozido did not respond to requests for comment. Robert Turner, Mozido’s chairman and founder of Turner Investments, also did not respond to a request for comment.
