SEATTLE — Misdemeanor assault and reckless driving charges filed last year against Dan Price, once the celebrity CEO of credit-card processor Gravity Payments, were dismissed Wednesday because of “proof” problems, according to Seattle Municipal Court records.
Price, 38, was charged in February 2022. Having contested the allegations since the filing, Price expressed relief Wednesday that “these false allegations are behind me.”
Price shot to fame when he increased starting salaries at his company to $70,000 in 2015 and continued to cement a name for himself with viral social media posts about how to build a fair workplace. He resigned from Ballard-based Gravity Payments last year.
The allegations stemmed from a report to Seattle police from a 26-year-old woman, who said she had met Price at a Capitol Hill restaurant Jan. 20, 2022. The two had previously communicated on Instagram about work, charging papers say. The woman described Price as a public figure and said she had reached out to him the previous December about meeting in person to discuss “professional matters,” say charging papers.
Seattle prosecutors alleged that Price cornered the woman in his Tesla sedan after a dinner meeting, tried to kiss her and then grabbed her throat when she refused. Relying on the woman’s account in a police report, city attorneys contended Price then drove her to a North Seattle parking lot, where he again grabbed her throat and proceeded to drive “doughnuts” with her in the car.
But in a December interview with attorneys, the woman said there was a mistake in the police report and that Price initially grabbed her neck as he tried to kiss her, not as retaliation for being rebuffed, court records show. Later, in the Northgate parking lot, she said he put his hand on the back of her neck and squeezed the sides.
Though she was shocked and scared by Price’s alleged advances, the woman said her airway wasn’t impacted, she didn’t notice any marks and wasn’t in pain, according to a partial transcript included in the court record.
“At no point during the defense interview did [the woman] repeat her allegation that Mr. Price grabbed her by the throat in the Northgate parking lot,” defense attorney Mark Middaugh wrote in a motion.
Middaugh said Wednesday the dismissal confirms Price’s contention that the charges against him were false.
“It is shocking that the police referred this case to the prosecutor for criminal charges without conducting any follow-up investigation, interviewing any witnesses other than the complainant, or even asking Mr. Price what happened,” Middaugh said in statement.
Prosecutors initially charged Price with fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation. The Seattle City Attorney’s Office dismissed the assault with sexual motivation charge that May before Price entered not guilty pleas to the other charges.
Soon after the case was filed, the defense provided the city with witness statements and other evidence — including messages between Price and the woman — that directly contradicted allegations in the police report, Middaugh said. Further investigation “yielded even more egregious inconsistencies and contradictions,” he said.
In court papers, Middaugh also contended police did not “engage in any follow-up investigation work” after the woman spoke with an officer in January 2022. The department, Middaugh claims, did not call Price for his version of events, and did not seek surveillance video from that night or interviews with restaurant staff.
The woman initially refused to be interviewed by Price’s legal team, Middaugh said in court papers. She told her story on “Good Morning America” and participated in an interview with The New York Times where, Middaugh noted, she went into more detail than she had in the police report.
Price said Wednesday that he’s “never physically or sexually abused anyone.”
Price resigned from Gravity Payments in August, around the time The New York Times published an exposé detailing abuse allegations by several women.
The resignation was a remarkable reversal for the founder, who achieved national recognition as a business wunderkind years before becoming a progressive social media star.
Price, then a 19-year-old Seattle Pacific University student, launched Gravity in 2004 with the stated ambition of slashing credit card processing fees for small businesses. The company now employs dozens and remains privately held.
As the company grew, so did Price’s reputation. He was named National Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration in 2010 and visited the White House to meet President Barack Obama.
But it was Price’s decision in 2015 to raise the company’s minimum annual wage to $70,000 that established his public persona as a progressive CEO.
He appeared on Kelly Clarkson’s TV show, Fox News and MSNBC. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders congratulated Price, writing on Twitter that Gravity’s CEO “sets an example that other companies should learn from.” Robert Reich, who led the Labor Department under President Bill Clinton, called Price “the one moral CEO in America.”
On Wednesday, Price said on Twitter that he’s considering what to do next.
“Now that these false allegations are behind me,” he said, “I plan to take some time to reflect on how I can best engage on the economic justice issues that matter most to me.”
