Luminar claims its founder Austin Russell is evading a subpoena in his bankruptcy case

Luminar, the maker of lidar devices, says its founder and former CEO Austin Russell has been evading requests for information — including a subpoena — that the company needs to decide whether it should take legal action against him.

The company, which entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late December, said in an emergency filing over the weekend that it was trying to reclaim company-owned devices from Russell since his resignation in May. While the company has recovered six computers, Luminar is still seeking Russell’s company-issued phone and a digital copy of his personal phone.

Luminar’s lawyers also wrote in the filing that Russell and his personal staff repeatedly misled legal representatives about the founder’s location during the holidays. They are asking the court for permission to serve Russell by mail or email instead. Luminar’s lawyer declined to comment further.

In emails attached to the file, Russell claimed he was being cooperative and was trying to get assurances from Luminar that any personal data from his devices would be protected.

“The company refused, so we will follow the process set forth by the court to protect the handling of the data instead,” Leonard Shulman, Russell’s attorney, told TechCrunch in a statement.

The emergency filing is one of the first major turns in the fast-moving bankruptcy case that involves Luminar trying to sell the two main parts of its business. The company is seeking court approval for an agreement already reached to sell its semiconductor business to a company called Quantum Computing, Inc., and has set a Jan. 9 deadline for bidding on its lidar division.

Russell, through his new venture Russell AI Labs, tried to buy Luminar before filing for Chapter 11 and expressed plans to file in the bankruptcy process. “With Luminar, our focus remains on what matters: Russell AI Labs’ attempt to rebuild the company and create value for its stakeholders,” Schulman said.

Luminar’s lawyers said in the filing that they began seeking information from Russell in May, after he abruptly resigned following a “code of business conduct and ethics investigation” conducted by the board’s audit committee. The company was evaluating whether it might have potential legal claims against him “related to the Audit Commission investigation and personal loans obtained by Mr. Russell,” according to the filing. But Luminar said those efforts were unsuccessful and that Russell was uncooperative.

On November 12, Luminar’s board of directors established a special investigative committee and hired the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges to further investigate “certain acts, omissions, transactions, potential claims and causes of action involving or relating to certain current and former directors and officers of Luminar.”

One month later, just before the bankruptcy filing, Weil’s lawyers contacted the law firm McDermott Will & Schulte, which had previously represented Russell. Weil’s lawyers asked how he collected Russell Luminar’s laptops and desktops, as well as his company-issued phone and a digital copy (or “image”) of his personal phone.

Weil’s lawyers spent a week trying to ascertain whether McDermott would represent Russell in the SIT case, only to discover on December 19 that would not happen. Weil’s attorneys tried to contact Russell directly instead.

Russell first responded on Christmas Eve, according to the file. McDermott was eventually allowed to hand over the computers (which the company has kept since his resignation), but the founder repeatedly asked for assurances that Luminar’s lawyers would not search personal data on his phones, emails attached to the emergency file show.

“I have offered direct cooperation as well as swift action, even during the holidays — but if this uniquely basic protection cannot be confirmed, I have communicated that further deliberation on this matter will be unproductive,” Russell wrote in an email on New Year’s Eve.

Luminar representatives arranged for a forensic examiner to appear at Russell’s Florida mansion on New Year’s Day. But the technician was rejected by Russell’s security team, which Luminar’s lawyer described as “unacceptable.”

Russell claimed that the technician was sent to his home “surprise” on the morning of the holiday “while I was asleep”, and stressed his desire to protect the privacy of his personal data. Luminar’s lawyers responded that they “repeatedly emphasized that we have no intention of looking into any documents other than those relating to Luminar.” Russell responded on January 2 that “[a]“To describe me as being uncooperative is completely inaccurate” and accused the lawyers of “verbal sports.”

Luminar’s lawyers instead attempted to subpoena this information from Russell, but claimed their process servers were similarly denied by his security team. They also claim that members of the security team lied about Russell’s presence at his Florida residence.

“Can we try to serve Austin again today? We will need someone persistent. He will evade service as long as possible,” one of Will’s attorneys wrote in an email on New Year’s Eve. “In fact, he was home when your person last tried and the guard simply lied to him.”