The Canoo Bankruptcy Scandal Might Be Even Dirtier Than The Fisker Mess

EV startup Canoo once promised Americans a fleet of zero-emissions urban delivery vehicles, tactical military response vans, and overland campers, but its January bankruptcy permanently euthanized those dreams. No longer a promised rival for the Rivian R1T, the Canoo trucks and vans are headed to that great vaporware depository in the sky, but not without sowing a little more scandal in their wake. During its Chapter 7 bankruptcy administration, all of Canoo’s assets were placed in former CEO Anthony Aquila’s hands, and another EV startup called Harbinger Motors is calling bull on that decision.

What’s Trucks Got To Do With It?

If you’re curious why another company is getting involved, that’s because Harbinger is currently dealing with its own legal woes pertaining to the now-bankrupt EV manufacturer. Harbinger was created in 2021 by a handful of former Canoo, Faraday Future, and Quantamscape employees, and the company’s first project is a ladder-frame electric chassis intended to underpin medium-duty trucks and vans. A year later, however, Canoo filed a lawsuit accusing Harbinger of corporate espionage, claiming similarities between the medium-duty truck platform and its own skateboard-style chassis. Although Harbinger sought to have the case dismissed, it is still active as of today.

The bankruptcy is of particular concern to the trucking manufacturer, because according to the terms of Canoo’s Chapter 7 liquidation, Aquila will be able to purchase the company’s existing assets. That includes any of the proceeds from the Harbinger lawsuit, which would go directly to the former CEO if the bankruptcy goes through. However, the medium-duty truck company alleges that the Chapter 7 proceedings were improperly administered, and Harbinger filed an official protest to the bankruptcy on Friday, March 28.

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Harbinger Says Canoo Hid Assets During The Bankruptcy

Part of the truck company’s case relates to Canoo’s aquisition of Arrival, Inc., in March 2024. Harbinger says that some of those assets weren’t disclosed and that the bankruptcy administrator assigned to the case failed to get an independent valuation of Canoo’s financials. Furthermore, Harbinger alleges in its protest that the company’s assets weren’t offered for sale to outside parties in an effort to pay back creditors. According to the protest, that gave Aquila an unfair advantage in bankruptcy proceedings, stacking the deck in favor of the former CEO.

Harbinger also said that Canoo falsely claimed assets it didn’t possess, although the company didn’t go into specifics in the brief. The situation is about as murky as it gets for an already-beleaguered EV industry. It even makes Fisker’s slow-motion death look rather seamless – although the Canoo bankruptcy has the distinct advantage of not dragging thousands of owners into the kerfuffle.

Source: Carscoops

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