The judge in the issue of bankruptcy of Canoo has blocked an attempt by a mysterious financier to disrupt the sale of EV starting assets.
At a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Brendan Linehan Shannon ruled the financier, a UK -based man named Charles Garson, lacked the attitude to seek sales for CEO himself. While Garson had told the court that he was willing to pay as much as $ 20 million for Canoo’s assets, he lost the deadline to officially submit that offer. Garson also never made it clear where he was helping that money, making the bankruptcy believe in this case to raise concerns that the offer could be blocked by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States.
The last challenge left for the sale of assets comes from Harbinger Motors, a start of commercial electric trucks created by a small part of Canoo’s former employees. Harbinger opposed the sale before it ended in April. The judge denied Harbinger’s opposition, but the company has since appealed that decision.
Jason Angelo, a lawyer for Garson, included his client’s attempt to break down the sale as a “David against Goliath Type Matter”. Angelo tried to make the case during the hearing that Garason’s conversations with the bankruptcy believer – who were handed over to court under the seals – led him to believe he had until the end of April to formalize an offer. He also repeated the claims made in the original Garnon appearance for the sale allegedly unfair because the assets ultimately went to CEO of Canoo Anthony Aquila.
“I think it would make sense here to allow a reprint, say,” Angelo said, mentioning his client’s “sincerity and zeal”. “I know you’re asking a lot. I do.”
Mark Felger, the lawyer representing the bankruptcy believer, disagreed, saying there was little in the dispute and the negotiations were fair.
“We think it’s quite clear about the facts. There is no he said, she said,” he told the judge. “Your honor is everything in email. I’ve read them for many, many times. I don’t see any mischief. I don’t see any trick. It was clear how we were going on. He knew there was a session in the ninth, and he chose to present nothing.”
As for the justice of the sales process, Felger said he and the trusted “were concerned about this internal sale (for CEO).”
“But they are the ones who grew up, right and we negotiated a lot. We went back and on a dozen times in that deal,” he said. Felger also reiterated the believer’s claims, made in previous recordings and evidence that the cost of maintaining Canoo’s assets – especially its batteries packets – cost a lot of money. Leaving a sales process to be withdrawn for a long time can damage the value of the property, he said.
Judge Shannon, after hearing the arguments from Angelo, Felger and a lawyer for Aquila, quickly ruled against Garson. He said the financier lacked the attitude to properly argue his motion to rest the sale, as he does not owe any money from Canoo and did not submit an official bid before the deadline.
“I am charming to Mr. Garson’s disappointment for what I think and am satisfied is a real interest in securing a superior offer and buying these assets,” Shannon said. “But it was a complex process driven by chapter seven of the trustee that I did not think Mr. Garson had a full handle for exactly what the process was, and what was necessary to fully engage in that process.”
Shannon also stressed that it had become clear to the believer from the beginning of who Aquila was, and that his role as CEO just did not stop him from buying his company’s assets.
