Will OceanGate Face Criminal Charges After ‘Titan’ Sub’s ‘Catastrophic’ Implosion? Legal Expert Weighs In

For the past five days, the nation has been transfixed on the heartbreaking disappearance of five passengers aboard the Titan, a 22-foot submersible that went missing en route to the Titanic wreckage on Sunday.

Today the United States Coast Guard announced during a press conference that debris found near the Titanic is in fact that of the Titan. An ROV discovered the debris located 1,600 feet from the bough of the tailbone of the Titanic wreckage on the seafloor, and “the debris field is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel,” the U.S. Coast Guard said, meaning that it would have been a quick implosion with no possible chance of survival.

In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, OceanGate announced that all five passengers “have sadly been lost.”

“This is an extremely sad time for our dedicated employees who are exhausted and grieving deeply over this loss,” the statement said in part.

The U.S. Coast Guard said that the implosion came after a loss of pressure in the Titan chamber. The passengers on the vessel were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, his son Suleman Dawood, Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet and British billionaire Hamish Harding, PEOPLE has learned.

Following Thursday’s announcement, questions continue to loom around the disappearance that caught the attention of the nation, including whether OceanGate Expeditions — the company that owned the submersible — can be held criminally liable for the deaths of the Titan passengers, which include their own CEO.

According to David Pogue — who spoke with PEOPLE one day before the debris from the vessel was discovered — he was required to sign a waiver before his dive on the Titan last summer, which he says is “quite clear about all the ways that you could be permanently disabled, emotionally traumatized or killed.”

“The waiver says ‘This vessel has not been inspected or certified by any government body,’ Pogue claimed. “So you know very well that it is a one of a kind vessel.”

However, trial lawyer and former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani tells PEOPLE that the waiver does not protect OceanGate from all types of criminal action in light of the passengers’ death.

“You can only waive a simple negligence,” Rahmani says. “By law, you can’t waive gross negligence. So this is above and beyond, you know. So, whatever waiver they signed … You can waive known risks, but you can’t waive something more than that, which again, I’m certainly no expert in these types of vessels, but this seems like something more than simple negligence.”

“It really comes down to the nature of the action and notice,” Rahmani adds. “If the company knows that this is dangerous, they’re ignoring warnings, they’re not participating in safety protocols or reviews, that type of thing that’s standard in the industry … If they’re not participating in what’s the industry standard or the custom, that’s evidence that can come in at any trial — whether it’s civil or criminal, of negligence or criminal recklessness.”

Rahmani says that he believes a civil lawsuit is “100 percent certain.”
“The civil lawsuit is pretty much absolute certainty,” he claims. “The criminal prosecution is a bigger question. It really depends on the factors that we talked about, you know. What did they know and what did they do in response? Knowing how high profile this is, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a criminal prosecution of people who were responsible for this.”
One thing that could possibly make criminal charges a bit harder is the fact that OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush is among the passengers who are presumed dead after the submersible’s implosion.

“If [the company] ignored safety precautions and so forth, then [the company] can be held criminally responsible,” Rahmani says. “Of course you can always sue a company.”

However, Rahmani says it’s hard to determine what type of charges the company could face at this time without gathering more information.

“It’s really going to depend on what they did and what steps they took to make the vessel safe,” he says. “If they ignored warnings from employees or regulators — whether it’s in the form of civil lawsuit or criminal subpoenas or search warrants — prosecutors and lawyers are going to get that information.”

“It’s a high profile case,” he continues. “When billionaires die, that’s something that gets a lot of attention. If there’s a basis for manslaughter charges, people will be charged in a case like this, absolutely.”

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