LifeLock Founder Resigns Amid Controversy: "

LifeLock co-founder Robert Maynard, Jr. has resigned from his position with the identity theft protection company following a story published in the Phoenix New Times about his past, which I wrote about last week. CEO Todd Davis left me a voicemail message this morning saying, 'Even though we found no merit to any of the claims made by the New Times article . . . Robert Maynard has chosen to step down from the company so we don't allow any distractions or anyone have the ability to question the integrity of LifeLock and our service offering. . . . He is now no longer an executive or officer of the company as of this time.'

The New Times article disclosed information about Maynard's past bankruptcies and a federal investigation into a previous company he owned, based on public records, and also revealed an incident involving Maynard's father, which suggested that Maynard, Jr., may have stolen the identity of his father to obtain an American Express card. Davis, in a follow-up call, did not dispute the information about the bankruptcies or the FTC investigation into Maynard's previous company (which he says he knew about before the New Times story came out) but said that LifeLock's lawyers found no merit to the claim that Maynard stole his father's identity. He wouldn't elaborate, however, on what his investigators found to reach that conclusion.

'I'm not going to get into it,' Davis said. 'That's now an issue for Robert (to handle). It's not a company issue. He's going to spend the time to clear his name.'

Davis acknowledged that Maynard, Jr., still owns 10 percent equity in LifeLock and that he is launching a marketing company. When asked if Maynard will work as a contractor for LifeLock doing the same marketing work he was until now doing as a staff member, Davis said yes.

On a separate note, CEO Davis has himself been a victim of identitytheft recently. According to spokesman Mike Prusinski, someone used theCEO's Social Security number -- which is prominently displayed inadvertisements for LifeLock's identity theft protection commercials andon its web site-- at a Ft. Worth check cashing operation to obtain a $500 loan.

'They had Todd's Social Security number, name, and his wife's cell phone number,' Prusinski said last week.

Davis discovered the identity theft crime only after the check-cashingcompany called his wife about the unpaid loan. Davis couldn't offer anydetails about the crime this morning (including the name of thecheck-cashing company) but Prusinski said last week that the thief wasable to obtain the loan because the check-cashing operation didn't runa credit-report check on the Social Security number before giving outthe loan (which would have revealed a fraud alert on the reports) andthat, as a result, there was no way that LifeLock could have preventedthe theft. LifeLock helps customers place fraud alerts with the threecredit-reporting agencies to prevent thieves from opening new accountsin its customers' names. It also helps customers fix credit problems ifthey do become victims of identity theft. But Prusinski says there's noway to prevent all identity theft -- especially in cases in which abusiness (such as the check-cashing operation) doesn't run a creditreport before providing someone with a loan or new credit card.

'It's a loophole,' Prusinksi said. 'We tell people that you can't stop every form of identity theft.'

(Read Original Article - Via Threat Level.)