Former Hyperloop One executive sues firm
BamBrogan, group’s co-founder, says he was harassed
The co-founder of futuristic transportation startup Hyperloop One, who abruptly quit the company this month, has filed a wrongful termination suit alleging nepotism and harassment, including having a noose left on his desk.
Brogan BamBrogan and three other former Hyperloop One executives allege in the suit the company’s current top leadership gave lucrative jobs and raises to relatives and, and in one case, a girlfriend. It also says they made inadvisable financial decisions to pocket more money themselves and harassed other employees.
Hyperloop One is one of a few companies working on the idea of building frictionless transportation tubes between cities. Pods carrying passengers would whoosh through tubes at speeds up to 750 miles per hour, making travel between cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles possible in less than an hour.
BamBrogan abruptly left Hyperloop on July 1, two weeks before filing the suit in California Superior Court in Los Angeles. The suit names the company as well as co-founder Shervin Pishevar, investor and board member Joseph Lonsdale, CEO Rob Lloyd and former general counsel Afshin Pishevar as defendants.
Even in May, while Hyperloop One was making headlines in the Nevada desert with a prototype design that used maglev technology to send a sled whizzing down a track, the company’s management was in turmoil, the lawsuit indicates. Later that month, BamBrogan and 10 other top executives complained of nepotism and other poor investment decisions in a letter to Shervin Pishevar, Lonsdale and Lloyd.
The lawsuit alleges Shervin Pishevar increased a public relation executive’s salary from $15,000 to $40,000 a month — higher than any other employee — after the two began dating.
Shervin Pishevar also allegedly granted himself 90% of Hyperloop One’s common stock, leaving BamBrogan with 6% and the initial board members with 4%. Lonsdale hired his brother’s twoperson firm as its exclusive in- vestment bank, when other, more qualified firms were available, the suit says. Management responded by allegedly threatening the letter’s signers if they spoke to investors, firing two top executives and demoting BamBrogan, the suit alleges.
The run-up to its next big deal — an agreement with a Russian firm to explore a hyperloop project there, potentially leading to a modern-day Silk Road linking Asia to Europe — was intertwined with yet more conflict.
BamBrogan said he warned potential Russian investors of the problems laid out in the letter. After the Russian investors brought up BamBrogan’s complaints to Shervin Pishevar, the suit says Pishevar’s brother, Afshin, allegedly placed a noose on BamBrogan’s desk.
Orin Snyder, a lawyer at Gibson Dunn representing Hyperloop One, called the lawsuit “delusional.” He claimed BamBrogan and the other plaintiffs are suing after an attempted coup for control of the company failed.
The civil harassment restraining order hearing is Thursday morning at California Superior Court in Los Angeles.
“The claims are pure nonsense and will be met with a swift and potent legal response,” Snyder said in a statement.
None of the plaintiffs or defendants reached responded to requests for comment.