Blackwater's evolution - Academi is an American private military company founded in 1997 by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince[2][3] as Blackwater,[4] renamed as Xe Services in 2009 and known as Academi since 2011 after the company was acquired by a group of private investors.[5] The company received widespread notoriety in 2007, when a group of its employees killed 14 Iraqi civilians and injured 20 in Nisour Square, Baghdad for which four guards were convicted in a U.S. court.[6][7]
Academi provides security services to the United States federal government on a contractual basis. Since 2003, the group has provided services to the Central Intelligence Agency. In 2013, Academi subsidiary International Development Solutions received an approximately $92 million contract for State Department security guards.[8]
In 2014, Academi became a division of Constellis Group along with Triple Canopy and other security companies that were part of the Constellis Group as the result of an acquisition.[9][10]