Cole Hatton, a co-inventor of the e-cigarette Juul and the company’s principal engineer, left the company on April 6, reported Bloomberg.

Hatton was one of the company’s first employees and is named on the patent alongside Juul’s co-founders, Adam Bowen and James Monsees. Hatton’s departure comes shortly after Guy Cartwright, a senior executive leading the restructuring of the company, and Monsees both announced that they would also be parting ways with the e-cigarette producer.
According to the report, these changes come at a critical time for Juul, as multiple executives from Altria have taken on leadership roles, after the company invested USD 12.8 billion. Juul is currently in the process of preparing a mandatory application for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to keep its product on the market. The current deadline is May 12, but the FDA has asked a federal judge for an extension, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report also stated that the San Francisco based company has faced recent accusations of being involved in starting a youth vaping epidemic. This comes after more than 5 million youth reported using e-cigarettes in 2019, according to the latest National Youth Tobacco Survey, with the majority stating that their “usual brand” was Juul.