LeEco is facing two separate lawsuits from US electronics company Vizio over unpaid termination fees, as more creditors pile in to claim payment from the cash-strapped Chinese tech conglomerate.
Vizio is seeking a total of $110m in damages, after LeEco’s $2bn takeover bid for the California-based company fell through in April due to “regulatory headwinds”. Vizio had agreed to let LeEco delay payment of a $100m termination fee in exchange for setting up a joint venture to sell Vizio products in China. The joint venture never materialised, and Vizio’s efforts to negotiate were met with “practical radio silence”, according to the court filing.
Vizio alleges that after the acquisition announcement, LeEco “concocted a secret plan . . . to gain or try to obtain access to Vizio’s large corporate customers and key decision makers thereat for their own purposes” and “create a false widespread public impression of their own financial health and wellbeing”.