The bad news keeps piling up for Declan Ganley and Rivada Networks in their bid to build a multibillion dollar constellation of about 300 satellites which, when linked together, would create an unhackable private internet that Ganley calls the OuterNet.
The costs could run to several billion dollars, which he’s currently out trying to raise. In the meantime, he and the company have been running up a sizeable legal bill on both sides of the Atlantic.
Just last month, Rivada Space Networks was hit by a €2.2 million judgment in the district court in Munich, when a satellite contractor called OHB System took it to court over an unpaid bill related to a preliminary study it conducted on the OuterNet project.
The Munich court has ordered Rivada to pay its bill, which the judgment states is now €2.2 million after interest. Ganley is reported in trade publications as saying that an amicable solution is in the process of being concluded.
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Separately, Ganley’s own legal troubles continue to rumble along in the background. Last week he was ordered to pay David Shuman, a shareholder in Rivada, $20,000 (€18,000) in legal fees arising out of a contempt of court ruling against the Irish businessman in a court in New York.
The supreme court of New York had previously ordered Ganley to pay Shuman $20,000 a month to help fulfil a default debt judgment, which is believed to stand at about $20 million, with interest. Ganley is in the midst of selling off property in Ireland to contribute to paying down the debt.
There were some delays to the payments, which resulted in Shuman successfully making a contempt of court motion in New York. Ganley has since brought himself up to date on his payments – in at least one instance his friend and shareholder Karl Rove has helped out – but a judge in the New York supreme court recently ruled that Shuman should be awarded costs of $20,000 for the inconvenience of having to submit the motion.
A spokesman for Rivada had previously told The Irish Times that Ganley would be appealing the contempt of court ruling. When Cantillon sought comment on the Munich ruling and the New York judgment, no response was forthcoming.
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