Juul co-founder James Monsees is leaving embattled e-cigarette company

Juul co-founder James Monsees is leaving the vaping giant as it faces an onslaught of regulatory scrutiny.

Monsees, 40, told employees Thursday that he is stepping down from his seat on Juul’s board. The move comes as Juul faces lawsuits and investigations stemming from its alleged efforts to market to young people.

“As both a founder and a major shareholder, I could not be more proud of the thoughtful actions that are being taken and the people in whose hands I’m leaving the company for its next great chapter,” Monsees wrote in an internal email announcing his departure.

Noting that he was recently married, Monsees said he plans to spend more time with his family and pursue other personal and professional interests.

He also expressed confidence in Juul CEO KC Crosthwaite, who took the helm in September. “The company reset and the actions we recently took to combat the unacceptable levels of youth use are both necessary and the right thing to do,” Monsees wrote.

Both former smokers, Monsees and fellow co-founder Adam Bowen met at Stanford University and launched their e-cigarette company, Ploom, in 2007. The firm was renamed Pax Labs in 2015 and it launched the Juul e-cigarette that year before Juul was spun into a separate company in 2017.

Juul grew into the vaping industry’s dominant player. Monsees became the company’s chief product officer, and he and Bowen reportedly became billionaires when tobacco giant Altria bought a 35 percent stake in Juul in 2018 for $12.8 billion.

But officials cracked down on Juul and other e-cigarette firms last year amid a spike in youth vaping and the emergence of a mysterious vaping-related lung illness. The Food and Drug Administration has since banned flavored “cartridge-based” vaping products and several states have sued Juul over its alleged marketing to teens.

Monsees left his post as Juul’s chief product officer in October, the WSJ reported. That same month, Altria wrote down the value of its Juul investment by $4.5 billion — a move that led Forbes to no longer consider Monsees and Bowen billionaires. Altria took another $4.1 billion hit on its stake late last year as the Federal Trade Commission continued to review its deal with Juul.