Hyperloop One files $250 million countersuit against BamBrogan

In a countersuit filed against co-founder and former CTO Brogan BamBrogan Monday, Hyperloop One claimed he was part of a group of four employees engaged in misconduct and abusive behaviour.

The transportation startup which is developing a high-speed shuttle is suing the plaintiffs for at least $250 million in the Superior Court of California, Los Angeles County.

According to the countersuit, BamBrogan and three other employees - referred to as ''the Gang of Four'' - ''manufactur[ed] a rebellion and incit[ed] conflict in a transparent attempt to seize control of the Company.''

The four have been accused of increasingly disruptive misconduct and staging a coup in May of 2016, asking select employees to sign a ''threatening'' letter calling on board members to give up their shares and significantly change Hyperloop One's equity structure.

BamBrogan also allegedly sought to start a competing company, Hyperloop Two, and attempted to discourage prospective investors in hopes they would invest in the new company instead.

The suit goes on to say that when the move failed, BamBrogan and the others filed a suit as part of a ''media ploy filled with lies aimed at smearing Hyperloop One.''

In an abrupt move, BamBrogan left the company last week and sued former colleagues for wrongful termination and claims of failure toward fiduciary duty (See: Hyperloop One co-founder sues firm, over alleged harassment). In a separate restraining order against the company's former head of legal counsel and co-founder Shervin Pishevar's brother Afshin Pishevar he alleged, they placed a hangman's noose on his chair after a discussion, but a Los Angeles judge dismissed it last week.

 ''Today's lawsuit demonstrates that these four men staged a failed coup to try to take over Hyperloop One and then conspired to start their own competing company,'' said Hyperloop One's outside legal counsel, Orin Snyder, in a statement. ''They engaged in gross misconduct in pursuit of their illegal plan and will now be held fully accountable in a court of law.''

Hyperloop One is among several startups attempting to realise Tesla and SpaceX cofounder Elon Musk's futuristic vision of developing a transportation system that could  shoot passengers and cargo through steel vacuum tubes at speeds reaching more than 700 miles per hour.