The judge in the bankruptcy of Canoo has prevented an attempt by a mysterious financier from disrupting the sale of EV’s starting assets.
At a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Brendan Linehan Shannon ruled the funder, a United Kingdom -based man named Charles Garson, did not apply for the sale to Canoo’s CEO. While Garson had told the court that he was willing to pay up to $ 20 million for Canoo’s assets, he lost the deadline to officially submit this offer. Garson has never made it clear from where he came from money from money, causing bankruptcy manager in the case to raise concerns that the offer could be excluded from the foreign investment committee in the United States.
The last remaining challenge for the sale of assets comes from Harbinger Motors, a commercial starting of electric trucks created by a handful of former Canoo employees. Harbinger opposed the sale before it was completed in April. The judge denied Harbinger’s objection, but the company has since appealed to the decision.
Jason Angelo, Garson’s lawyer, framed his client’s attempt to disrupt the sale as “David Versus Goliath Matter”. Angelo tried to make the case at the hearing that Garson’s talks with the bankruptcy manager – who were subjected to the court under the stamp – led him to believe he had until the end of April to formalize an offer. He also reiterated the allegations made in Garson’s initial deposition on the sale that was allegedly unfair, because the assets eventually went to CEO of Canoo Anthony Aquila.
“I think it would make sense here to allow a reinstatement, so we talk,” Angelo said, citing the “honesty and seriousness” of his client. “I know he is asking a lot. I do.”
Mark Felger, the lawyer representing the bankruptcy manager, disagreed with saying that there was no question and the negotiations were fair.
“We think it is quite clear in terms of events. There is no he said, he told the judge. “Your honor is all in the emails. I have read many times. Many times. I see no bad communication. I see no deception. It was clear how we went. He knew there was a sales hearing in the ninth and he chose not to deposit anything.”
As for the justice of the sale process, Felger said he and the administrator “were worried about this sale of confidential information [to the CEO]. ”
“But they are the ones who were reinforced, right and negotiated hard. We went back twelve times to this deal,” he said. Felger also reiterated the administrator’s claims, which were made in previous deposits and testimonies, that the cost of maintaining Canoo assets – especially his battery packages – costs a lot of money. Telling a selling process to pull for a long time could harm the value of the estate, he said.
Judge Shannon, after hearing arguments from Angelo, Felger and Aquila lawyer, quickly ruled Garson. He said the financier was not able to properly support his proposal to abandon the sale, since he owes no money from Canoo and did not submit an official bid before the deadline.
“I am nice to Mr Garson’s frustration in what I feel and are satisfied is a real interest in providing higher offering and buying these assets,” Shannon said. “But it was a complex process run by the Capital Administrator Seven that I don’t think Mr Garson had a complete handle on exactly what the process was and what was necessary to fully participate in this process.”
Shannon also pointed out that it became clear to the manager from the beginning who Aquila was and that his role as CEO in itself did not exclude him from the purchase of his company’s assets.
“I came late into the process and hoped for the opportunity to join and enter my offer. While the result was not what I was hoping for, I respect the court ruling and I want to expand my congratulations to Tony Aquila,” Garson said in a statement to Techcrunch.
This story has been informed by a statement by Charles Garson.
