OceanGate is facing a federal investigation a year after the Titan submersible imploded

The apparent success of the leaseback agreement may explain how Rush was able to attract OceanGate’s largest-ever investment in 2020, at a time when the company was working on the expensive task of replacing it titaniumIt was the first hull to suffer cracks during testing. The $18 million in equity financing enabled OceanGate to rebuild titanium and continue with the first one Titanic Expedition in 2021. Around this time, documents suggest OceanGate may have had more control over its acquisition of Cyclops 2 LLC.

But in 2023, OceanGate appeared to be on much more shaky financial ground. Several witnesses testified at the Coast Guard hearings that they believed OceanGate ran into financial difficulties leading up to the finale Titanic Expedition, including Rush, who forewent his salary and occasionally lent the company money from his personal funds.

Asking for $250,000 Titanic The diving seemed to be slowing down. As recently as May 2023, one of OceanGate’s partner sellers announced that there were still “some very limited dates and spots available at a 40% discount” for this summer’s expeditions. This has not yet been reported.

If the federal investigation results in criminal charges, it would proceed alongside a civil lawsuit currently pending in federal court in Washington state. In this case, the family is famous Titanic The explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet is demanding $50 million for his death aboard the titaniumThe lawsuit names OceanGate, Rush’s estate and a number of other people and companies connected to the ill-fated submersible as defendants. Rush’s estate recently filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against him, stating, “As Rush’s employer, OceanGate is liable for Rush’s alleged negligence.”

Maritime lawyer Alton Hall is skeptical that Nargeolet’s family will get anywhere near the $50 million they are seeking. A 1920 law, the Death on the High Seas Act, generally limits damages to financial losses, such as future earnings. An exception would be Nargeolet and his companion titanium Passengers OceanGate described as “mission specialists” qualified as sailors under another law called the Jones Act. “There are literally books and books about who is a Jones Act sailor and who is not,” Hall says. The passengers who died on board titanium “are not Jones Act sailors,” he believes.

An unknown question in these cases, and others that may be asked by the families of two billionaires who also died on the same day titaniumwho has to expect legal consequences. The civil case against OceanGate and Rush’s estate also names as defendants OceanGate’s original technical director, Tony Nissen, and three companies that manufactured it titaniumHull and viewing window. However, several witnesses at the Coast Guard hearings testified that Stockton Rush had the final say on many commercial, technical and operational decisions and that his company was likely all but bankrupt. In the end, there may be little to salvage from the wreckage of OceanGate.