The CEO of the company that owns the submersible that went missing in the Atlantic Ocean recently on an expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic, prompting a major search effort that has attracted worldwide attention, was sued by a Florida couple for fraud in February, according to court records.
According to the lawsuit, the couple paid OceanGate a total of $210,258 to be a part of the company’s first manned expedition to the wreckage of the Titanic, which was initially supposed to take place in June 2018 aboard the Cyclops 2 submersible, later renamed Titan. According to the suit, Rush visited the Hagles at their Winter Park, Florida, home in September 2017, where he convinced the couple to remain involved in the expedition, assuring them the sub would be complete on time and that they could request a refund if the expedition was delayed.
The Hagles claim they were given new contracts in January 2018, which required them to immediately pay the remaining $190,258 instead of following the payment schedule in the original contracts. The couple signed the contracts and paid the remaining funds the following February, their suit says