Mission Motorcycles Sues Co-Founder

Mission Motorcycles is suing Vincent Ip, one of three co-founders of the electric motorcycle company, who was terminated in November. This according to a lawsuit filed this month in U.S. District Court, and first reported by the Associated Press.

The lawsuit contends that, under an agreement Ip signed earlier this year, Mission Motorcycles has the right to buy back most of Ip’s 300,000 shares of company stock. Ip was terminated in November for what the lawsuit characterizes as unprofessional behavior, including physically threatening Mark Seeger, one of Mission co-founders. Ip has rejected the lawsuit and plans to countersue.

According to the lawsuit, each co-founder — Ip, Seeger, and Andrew Ng — invested $30,000 in exchange for 300,000 shares of company stock. Each later signed a stock restriction agreement that gave the company the right to repurchase the stock of any shareholder in the event the shareholder’s employment was terminated. The agreement also provided a vesting plan so that increasingly smaller portions of the founder’s stock would be subject to repurchase.

The lawsuit seeks to enforce the stock agreement, which would result in 275,000 shares of Ip’s stock Mission could then buy back.

By Troy Siahaan