Stockton Rush, the billionaire founder of OceanGate, allegedly engineered the Titan submersible to collapse at the Titanic wreck, a claim surfaced after the June 2023 disaster.
Karl Stanley, a commercial submersible expert who had worked with Rush for more than a decade, told author Matthew Gavin Frank that Rush intentionally built a vessel that would implode, calling it a "mousetrap for billionaires".
The ill‑fated dive carried five passengers, including French explorer Paul‑Henri Nargeolet, British adventurer Hamish Harding, and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood with his son Suleman, each paying up to $250,000 for the expedition.
In 2019, Stanley joined Rush on a test dive where he heard loud cracking sounds and raised concerns that were dismissed, a warning that went unheeded.
The US Coast Guard, reviewing the incident, has summoned witnesses such as Stanley and is probing OceanGate's safety protocols, while federal regulators prepare a formal inquiry.
OceanGate is slated to testify before a congressional hearing in October 2026, and victims' families are already filing civil claims seeking compensation.