AI executive pleads guilty to assaulting musicians in pub, keeps job

A $7.2 billion artificial intelligence company is still listing Timothy Bentley as one of its senior Australian executives, despite the man pleading guilty to assaulting two musicians at a bar in Sydney’s CBD.

Bentley, the Asia-Pacific vice president of sales at cybersecurity tech company Abnormal AI, entered a guilty plea to two charges of common assault on Monday, relating to an incident this year at the Ramblin Rascal Tavern in central Sydney.

Bentley, who lives in Mosman on Sydney’s north shore, has been on bail since being charged over the altercation, which occurred about 9pm on Friday, February 13, shortly before The Grand Union, a local band that performs in pubs around Sydney, was due to play.

The tech executive had been sitting with two men when he began heckling the band, at which point The Grand Union’s guitarist and songwriter Stu Greenwood told him to stop.

Bentley had been drinking “several alcoholic” beverages, including beer and whisky, when the altercation occurred, according to a police fact sheet submitted to the Downing Centre Local Court.

He then punched Greenwood in the face, leaving him with a broken nose and chipped tooth, according to medical records seen by this masthead.

Bentley then punched John Flaws, a member of another band called Bloody Legend, who tried to intervene, before leaving and heading into the Metro. Flaws suffered a split lip that required stitches. Photographs taken at the scene and obtained by this masthead show blood on his face and the street outside.

Bentley was later apprehended by police.

Police initially charged him with assault occasioning actual bodily harm but on Monday the court heard these charges had been withdrawn and replaced with two common assault charges.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 15. His legal team’s plans provide a small bundle for consideration, including letters of reference and medical documents.

Abnormal AI, a Las Vegas-based start-up that uses AI software to guard against cyberattacks, was founded in 2018. In a 2024 funding round, Abnormal raised $US250 million from investors and was valued at $US5.1 billion.

Among other services, Abnormal makes tools to stop “fallible” humans from falling for phishing emails in which cybercriminals try to fool staff at a company into disclosing sensitive information by mimicking correspondence from colleagues or professional acquaintances.

Bentley, who was born in Britain, launched Abnormal in the Asia-Pacific region in 2021.

According to Abnormal’s website, he founded email security company MessageLabs in 2003, which was later acquired by cybersecurity company Symantec. He later moved on to Abnormal Security, as Abnormal AI was then known.

Abnormal and Bentley did not respond to requests for comment. Bentley’s role with Abnormal is still listed on the company’s website and his LinkedIn account.

Rohin Sharma, The Grand Union’s guitarist, said he and his friends were not surprised to learn of the guilty plea but were disappointed that the charges were downgraded, “especially given that two people were hospitalised as result of the assault and continue to be affected by it”.

“It’s quite ironic that his employer claims to protect people from crime,” Sharma said.

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