Canada Jetlines sues JetBlue co-founder
Struggling aviation startup Canada Jetlines is blaming serial airline founder David Neeleman for its failure to get off the ground.
The startup is suing JetBlue and WestJet co-founder Neeleman for poaching its CEO which it says ultimately led to the company losing vital funding.
It filed a lawsuit in the US against Neeleman, DGN Corporation and Breeze Aviation Group alleging it ‘conspired to mislead Jetlines and its banker’ by secretly luring CEO Lukas Johnson away to work for Neeleman’s new airline project Moxy.
The suit also claims Neeleman phoned the potential investor to ‘gloat’ that Johnson was leaving to join Moxy.
Jetlines laid off many of its staff recently after announcing its planned launch was further delayed and wouldn’t happen at all without additional funding.
The defendants ’embarked upon a predatory scheme to destroy the relationships’ between Jetlines and the investment bank,’ the lawsuit stated.
Jetlines says Johnson’s sudden departure was the start of its latest financial difficulties.
"Defendants were working secretly with Johnson to engineer his departure at the point in time most likely to injure Jetlines."
Soon after news broke that Johnson was leaving, the bank stopped efforts to raise funds for Jetlines, it said.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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