A report in The Irish Times details further financial problems faced by Declan Ganley, CEO at Rivada Space Networks. Ganley was warned last week by Judge Jeffifer Schecter in the New York Supreme Court that he was already in contempt of court over non-payments of $20,000 (€18,300) per month to a Rivada shareholder, David Shuman. Ganley owes an alleged $20 million to Shuman.

The court warned Ganley that the current $500 per day penalty for non-compliance ordered by the court and would rise to $1,000 a day effective October 8th, and potentially to $2,000 per day if Ganley fails to pay Shuman by November 22nd, and to $3,000 per day if payments are not made by January 6th 2025. Accumulated fines currently amount to $13,000.

The judge’s order last week stated: “The purpose of this hearing is to punish the accused, Declan Ganley, for a contempt of court, and such punishment may consist of a fine, or imprisonment, or both according to law”.

The judge ordered Ganley to make his responses to submissions already made by Shuman’s lawyers by October 30th and to show cause as to why further sanctions should not be imposed by the court.

Past rulings by the court ordered Ganley to sell of 4 acres of Irish farmland plus a pub near his Galway home in Ireland.

The dispute with Shuman revolves around an alleged $20 million debt arising out of a default debt judgement against Ganley.

Additional to the problems in New York, there are also legal squabbles between Rivada and Germany-based OHB Systems and OHB’s fee is now amounting to some €2.5 million for work done on behalf of Rivada.

Ganley is heading up Rivada which is looking to build a 600 satellite mega-constellation of super-secure laser satellites. The contractor in what is said to be a $2.4 billion order is Terran Orbital which was recently acquired by Lockheed Martin.

Earlier in October a Rivada spokesman stressed that Rivada was on track to build the first 300 satellites of the planned constellation, commenting: “We are confident that we will be able to finance our satellite production and meet our regulatory milestones. Since the takeover [of Terran Orbital/TO], Lockheed Martin has been highly constructive and supportive of the TO/Rivada relationship and mission (and now has much more visibility to it). To be clear, there has never been a dispute between LM and Rivada, quite the opposite.”

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Categories: Articles, Business, Policy, Satellite

Tags: court, rivada