A Los Angeles judge has dismissed former Hyperloop One CTO and co-founder Brogan BamBrogan’s restraining order against the company’s former head of legal Afshin Pishevar.
BamBrogan and several other former employees are suing Hyperloop One for wrongful termination and claims of failure toward fiduciary duty. BamBrogan separately filed a restraining order against Pishevar for allegedly placing a hangman’s noose on BamBrogan’s chair after a disagreement.
Pishevar’s lawyer David Willingham called the request “baseless” and said BamBrogan only used the restraining order as leverage in the separate civil suit.
BamBrogan and Pishevar used to be roommates, according to a spokesperson for Hyperloop One. However, the judge determined Pishevar was not a threat to BamBrogan after determining the two no longer live or work together.
BamBrogan was forced out of the company just days after Pishevar, who was allegedly caught on security cameras placing the noose on BamBrogan’s chair, was also fired. Pishevar is the brother of Hyperloop One’s other co-founder and major stakeholder Shervin Pishevar.
BamBrogan’s lawyer told a group of reporters after the ruling today he respected the judge’s decision and that it would not have an impact on the wrongful termination lawsuit, adding, “If the threats do resume, however, we will be back in court to protect our client.”
“The court’s denial of this harassing motion after less than a minute of deliberation speaks for itself,” lawyers for Hyperloop One stated. “There is no threat to Mr. BamBrogan. Today’s defeat is also the starting gun for exposing the lies behind the sham lawsuit filed yesterday by these ex-employees. The next step in that process will be a countersuit that we will file in court next week. Our lawsuit will expose this cynical use of the legal system for what it is: a smokescreen designed to cover up a botched attempt to take over the company. We look forward to telling the real story next week.”
BamBrogan filed the separate lawsuit after leaving the company, claiming he was demoted from his position as CTO and replaced by Josh Geigel, who has now been named as co-founder and CTO of Hyperloop One. The suit’s letter, addressed to Shervin, Afshin, investor Joe Lonsdale and CEO Rob Lloyd, accuses the men of wrongful termination and greed and using the company to boost their romantic lives.
“Those with the expertise to bring the hyperloop concept to fruition—the team that has done an incredible job building out hardware with their heads down and hands in the dirt—have been systematically marginalized,” reads the court document. “…while the ‘money men’ who do not understand the technology spent little time seeking to understand its potential, focusing instead on puffery—turning the company into a marketing-driven exercise, instead of the engineering-driven enterprise it should be.”
A spokesperson for Hyperloop One called the lawsuit “unfortunate and delusional.”