In a press conference held in Austin, TX today, Paloma Heindorff announced that Cody Wilson resigned from Defense Distributed and Ghost Gunner. Heindorff also announced that effective immediately, she would be the new director of Defense Distributed and CEO of Ghost Gunner.

The change in leadership comes in the wake of Cody Wilson's recent legal troubles where an arrest warrant was issued for the alleged sexual assault of a 16-year old girl. Wilson was later deported from Taiwan and placed in the custody of US Marshals once back in the US.

Defense Distributed's Official Statement

The opening statement from the press conference made by Heindorff:

Good morning, thank you for attending. My name is Paloma Heindorff, I'm the new director of Defense Distributed and CEO of Ghost Gunner. I spent last three years at DD working as director of development and VP of Operations. Cody Wilson tendered his resignation on Friday evening to focus on personal legal affairs. Defense Distributed Board of Directors accepted his resignation and thus his role at the company has been concluded. I am extremely proud to say that over the past few days the entire team at defense distributed has recommitted to enabling the sharing and publication of CAD and 3d printer files. This resiliance, I truly believe to not only be characteristic of our company as a whole, but also the ideas that we have worked so hard to promote. I'd like to take this opportunity to say that any questions concerning Cody Wilson and his legal of personal legal affairs should be directed to his personal lawyer.

You can watch the full press conference below:

The New Director's Background

Heindorff gives you a bit of background on herself at one point in the press conference. Heindorff's accent isn't something she developed as a result of watching BBC America non-stop, she grew up in East London in an artistic community thanks to her creative parents.

She spent some time in London managing several venues and later co-founded a bar boat that was located on Regents Canal and graduated from Portsmouth University in 2010 with a BA in English Literature.

Once Heindorff had graduated, she relocated to New York. Once she hit the states, Heindorff worked in the Operations department of Flavorpill media as well as organizing several independent spoken word nights and artist showcases.

In 2015 Heindorff was moved by the Defense Distributed mission and relocated from New York to Austin, TX.

During the press conference, Heindorff said, “It was the most elegant and effective activism that I had seen performed and that I wanted to be a part of that,” when asked what in particular brought her to Defense Distributed.

Since she joined the DD team, Heindorff has built a national dealership program, guided the company's sales and marketing strategy, doubled their workforce, and launched several new products.

Defense Distributed & Ghost Gunner's Future

Heindorff says in the press conference that the companies plan on continuing on the same path as they have been since the company was founded. She goes on to say that she was impressed by the DD team, not a single person didn't show up for work while the Wilson arrest situation unfolded. The companies are both still shipping products to consumers without missing a beat.

So what about Cody Wilson's further involvement with DefDist? Once Wilson stepped down, he will no longer be involved with either company in any capacity.

Heindorff stated that they have some new things coming in 2019 that she has been working with their engineer on and that the company's commitment to ensuring that 3D printed gun files are available to those that want them is as strong as ever.

Currently, the Defense Distributed legal fund is at approximately $342,000. If you desire to donate the legal fund, visit the Defense Distributed website. If you would like to learn more about Ghost Gunner and the Ghost Gunner 2 CNC mill, visit the Ghost Gunner website.