According to Silicon Valley darling Catherine Hoke of Defy Ventures, felons are "natural-born entrepreneurs" budding with potential whom she can rehabilitate to stay out of prison with 95 percent efficacy.
Defy Ventures brings the gospel of entrepreneurship to an unlikely place: prisons.
The nonprofit company founded by Catherine Hoke says it is dedicated to helping formerly incarcerated people start their own businesses and stay out of prison. “Transform the hustle,” the company’s tagline encourages.
Defy has received grants from Google and the conservative Koch brothers. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg wrote a foreword to Hoke’s new memoir. Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called Hoke’s work “incredibly inspiring” on his podcast. Hoke’s project even has White House interest: She had a call with Jared Kushner’s office in January to discuss a visit about prison reform.
But while Defy woos Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C., scandal has rocked the company’s leadership. Last month, Defy fired its president after he blew the whistle on allegations of sexual harassment by Hoke and fraudulent statistics exaggerating the program’s successes.
Hoke describes Defy as a second chance—not just for people with criminal histories, but for herself. A former employee at a private equity firm, Hoke left Wall Street to launch a business skills-training program for Texas prisoners in 2004. In 2009, she was banned from Texas prisons after she was discovered to have had sexual relations with four program graduates.
She founded Defy the following year, making a fresh start in New York. Since then, Defy has expanded its work to include classes for current and formerly incarcerated people. The program has operated from 15 prisons, and teaches post-release classes online, as well as in person in New York, California, Colorado, and Nebraska. Less than 5 percent of Defy students return to prison, the company claims as part of its pitch to donors.
In December 2017, the company brought on Roger Gordon as its new president. Gordon is a lawyer who previously founded a food bank assistance company and chaired a nonprofit that employed more than 100 formerly incarcerated people. But by mid-January, Gordon said he had serious concerns about Hoke’s conduct and the success rates Defy claimed in presentations to donors.
On Jan. 16, Gordon took his concerns to the chair of Defy’s board. Three days later, he says, he was suspended, ordered to turn over all notes he’d taken on his first days of the job, and ordered not to talk to employees. While suspended, he took his concerns to officials at New York’s Walkill Correctional Facility where Defy has taught classes. Those concerns were documented in a letter reviewed by The Daily Beast. On Feb. 26, Defy fired Gordon citing his outreach to donors and employees.
Telling leftists what they want to hear is big business.
According to Silicon Valley darling Catherine Hoke of Defy Ventures, felons are "natural-born entrepreneurs" budding with potential whom she can rehabilitate to stay out of prison with 95 percent efficacy. 
