Luminar founder Austin Russell agrees to just accept subpoena in chapter case

Luminar founder and former CEO Austin Russell has agreed to accept an electronic subpoena for information on his phone related to the company, as part of the lidar maker’s ongoing bankruptcy proceeding, per a new filing Tuesday.

Russell now has seven days to file a motion to quash the subpoena, or object to it — otherwise he has 14 days to comply, according to the filing.

The agreement comes two weeks after Luminar’s lawyers accused Russell of avoiding the subpoena by turning away process servers at the gate to his Florida mansion. Russell had argued he was unwilling to turn over his phone until he received assurances from Luminar that his personal information would be protected; the Tuesday filing shows the two sides agreed to hash out exact steps on how that information will be handled.

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

Luminar reached a deal last week with a company called Quantum Computing Inc. (QCI) to sell its lidar assets for $22 million. (Luminar is also trying to sell its semiconductor division to QCI for $110 million.) Luminar has scheduled an auction for the end of this month in an attempt to solicit bids that might beat QCI’s offer.

Russell tried to buy Luminar in October, months after his abrupt resignation as CEO due to an ethics inquiry, but before the company filed for bankruptcy. Representatives for his new venture, Russell AI Labs, have told TechCrunch that he remains interested in submitting a bid for Luminar’s lidar assets, but a formal offer has not yet been submitted.

Luminar has been seeking information from Russell since his resignation as it decides whether to take legal action against him. The founder has already turned over multiple computers but held on to his phone because of privacy concerns. (Luminar originally claimed it was seeking two phones from Russell, one provided by the company and one personal. Russell has since said in court filings that he only ever had one phone during his time at Luminar.)