Luminar founder Austin Russell agrees to accept subpoena in bankruptcy case

Luminar founder and former CEO Austin Russell has agreed to accept an electronic subpoena seeking his cell phone information related to the lidar maker as part of the lidar maker’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, according to a new filing Tuesday.

Russell currently has seven days to file a motion to revoke or challenge the subpoena, or must otherwise respond within 14 days, according to the filing.

The agreement comes two weeks after Mr. Luminar’s lawyers accused Mr. Russell of evading a subpoena by denying a process server at the gates of his Florida mansion. Russell claimed he was not willing to hand over his phone until he received assurances from Luminar that his personal information would be protected. Tuesday’s filings show the two sides have agreed to specify precise procedures for how that information will be handled.

Luminar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December after losing major contracts with customers such as Volvo and Mercedes-Benz, as well as increasing competition from Chinese lidar companies.

Last week, Luminar reached a deal with a company called Quantum Computing Inc. (QCI) to sell its lidar assets for $22 million. (Luminar is also selling its semiconductor division to QCI for $110 million.) Luminar is planning an auction later this month to solicit bids that could exceed QCI’s asking price.

Russell tried to buy Luminar in October, months after abruptly resigning as CEO amid an ethics investigation and before the company filed for bankruptcy. Representatives from his new business, Russell AI Labs, told TechCrunch that he remains interested in submitting a bid for Luminar’s LIDAR assets, but no formal offer has yet been submitted.

Since Russell’s resignation, Luminar has sought information from him to determine whether to pursue legal action against him. The founders had already handed over several computers but were holding off on calls due to privacy concerns. (Luminar initially claimed it wanted two cell phones from Russell, one provided by the company and one for personal use. Russell later said in court filings that he only had one cell phone during his time at Luminar.)