Lidar-maker Luminar says its founder and former CEO Austin Russell has been evading requests for info — together with a subpoena — that the corporate wants to be able to determine whether or not it ought to take authorized motion in opposition to him.
The corporate, which entered the Chapter 11 chapter course of in late December, stated in an emergency filing over the weekend that it has been making an attempt to reclaim company-owned gadgets from Russell since his resignation in Could. Whereas it has recovered six computer systems, Luminar remains to be looking for Russell’s company-issued telephone and a digital copy of his private telephone.
Luminar’s attorneys additionally wrote within the submitting that Russell and his personal private staff repeatedly misled authorized representatives in regards to the founder’s location over the vacations. They’re asking the court docket for permission to as an alternative serve Russell by mail or electronic mail. A lawyer for Luminar declined to remark additional.
In emails hooked up to the submitting, Russell claimed he was being cooperative and has been making an attempt to get assurances from Luminar that any private knowledge from his gadgets shall be protected.
“The corporate declined, so we’ll observe the court-established course of for knowledge dealing with protections as an alternative,” Leonard Shulman, an lawyer for Russell, instructed TechCrunch in a press release.
The emergency submitting is among the first main twists in a fast-moving chapter case that entails Luminar making an attempt to promote the 2 principal elements of its enterprise. The corporate is looking for court docket approval of an already reached settlement to promote its semiconductor subsidiary to an organization referred to as Quantum Computing, Inc., and has established a January 9 deadline for bids on its lidar division.
Russell, by means of his new enterprise Russell AI Labs, tried to purchase Luminar earlier than the Chapter 11 submitting and has expressed plans to make a bid within the chapter course of. “Because it pertains to Luminar, our focus stays on what issues: Russell AI Labs’ bid to rebuild the corporate and convey worth to its stakeholders,” Shulman stated.
Techcrunch occasion
San Francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
Legal professionals for Luminar stated within the submitting that it started attempting to find info from Russell in Could, simply after he abruptly resigned following a “code of enterprise conduct and ethics inquiry” carried out by the board’s audit committee. The corporate was evaluating whether or not it could have potential authorized claims in opposition to him “regarding the Audit Committee inquiry and private loans taken by Mr. Russell,” in response to the submitting. However Luminar stated these efforts had been unsuccessful and Russell was not cooperative.
On November 12, Luminar’s board of administrators established a Particular Investigation Committee and employed legislation agency Weil, Gotshal & Manges to additional examine “sure acts, omissions, transactions and potential claims and causes of motion involving or associated to sure present and former administrators and officers of Luminar.”
One month later, simply earlier than the chapter, attorneys for Weil contacted the legislation agency of McDermott Will & Schulte, which had beforehand represented Russell. The Weil attorneys requested about amassing Russell’s Luminar-provided laptop computer and desktop computer systems, alongside together with his company-issued telephone and a digital copy (or “picture”) of his private telephone.
The attorneys from Weil spent every week making an attempt to verify whether or not McDermott would characterize Russell within the matter of the Particular Investigation Committee, solely to search out out on December 19 that it could not. The Weil attorneys tried contacting Russell immediately as an alternative.
Russell responded for the primary time on Christmas Eve, in response to the submitting. He finally licensed McDermott to show over the computer systems (which the agency had stored in its possession since his resignation), however the founder repeatedly requested for ensures that Luminar’s attorneys wouldn’t search by means of private knowledge on his telephones, emails hooked up to the emergency submitting present.
“I’ve provided direct cooperation in addition to immediate motion, even by means of the vacations – but when this singular primary safety can’t be confirmed, I’m suggested additional deliberations on this matter is not going to be productive,” Russell wrote in an electronic mail on New Yr’s Eve.
Representatives for Luminar organized to have a forensic examiner seem at Russell’s mansion in Florida on New Yr’s Day. However the technician was turned away by Russell’s safety group, which a lawyer for Luminar referred to as “unacceptable.”
Russell claimed the technician was despatched to his house “unannounced” on the vacation morning “once I was asleep,” and reiterated his want to guard the privateness of his private knowledge. A lawyer for Luminar responded that that they had “repeatedly confirmed that we’ve no intention of taking a look at any paperwork past these which are Luminar-related.” Russell replied on January 2 that “[a]ny characterization that I’ve been uncooperative is wholly inaccurate” and accused the attorneys of “phrase gymnastics.”
Luminar’s attorneys tried as an alternative to subpoena this info from Russell however declare their course of servers had been equally turned away by his safety group. Additionally they declare these safety group members lied about Russell’s presence at his Florida residence.
“Can we attempt to serve Austin once more in the present day? We’re going to want somebody dogged. He’s going to evade service so long as doable,” one of many Weil attorneys wrote in an electronic mail on New Yr’s Eve. “In reality, he was house when your individual tried final time and the guard merely lied for him.”
