Is The Long-Forecast Icon Meltdown Underway?

Details are still being carefully researched but ANN has confirmed that former Icon Aircraft CEO and self-described industry visionary, Kirk Hawkins (pictured), has sued the company... while the (now) former President/COO Thomas Wieners has departed the scene with practically zero acknowledgement from the company (who have failed to return calls).

A June 26th lawsuit filed by Hawkins names ICON AIRCRAFT, INC., a Delaware corporation; SHANGHAI PUDONG SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT CO., LTD.; a foreign corporation; PK CAPITAL L.P., a foreign limited partnership; PUDONG SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT CAYMAN CO., LTD., a foreign corporation; PK INVESTMENT CO., LTD., a foreign corporation; XUDONG ZHU, an individual; and DOES 1-10, as the defendants in a complaint alleging: (1) Breach of Contract; (2) Breach of the Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing; (3) Intentional Misrepresentation; (4) Retaliation; (5) Tortious Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage; and (6) Declaratory Judgment.

The lawsuit paints Hawkins as the founder and such for the Icon program, lauding his 'achievements' throughout his tenure, and then launches into a number of specific and troublesome charges against those named in the document as well as unamed/unknown persons the suit can not currently identify.

In the meantime, Hawkins' replacement, President and COO Thomas Wieners, is now the COO of a boat company in Opa Locka Florida... and he isn't taking calls, either. His new employer crowed about his coming over to their company in a June 19th (as dated) online press release, noting that, "Wieners most recently held the role of president and COO of ICON Aircraft, where he helped guide the company from vision and creation into scalable production and delivering world-class products to customers."

Wieners has recently been scrubbed from the Icon website's leadership roster, but there is otherwise no apparent mention of his departure, or the reasons thereof, in the company updates page.

Much more to follow...

FMI: www.iconaircraft.com