Η company Lily Robotics which pre-sold the drone Lily announced the end of her venture, despite raising $34 million in pre-sales and $15 million in private funding. The reason? He was sued by the San Francisco District Attorney's office for false and misleading advertising.
The San Francisco Attorney's Office has conducted a "multi-month investigation" into the Lily Drone and came to the following conclusion: The very expensive professional camera that brought the drone to company's promotional video it wasn't actually a Lily, but a DJI Inspire, something the creators failed to mention. The result is that fantastic commercial video by air tricks of the drone tricked prospective customers into pre-paying and ordering.
In addition, the company had promised the delivery of the drones in February 2016, which never happened. The prosecutor's office claims that the company's customers because of the delay asked for their money back, but Lily had used the money these to cover the $4 million bank loan.
The company had not used well-known websites for product advertising and promotions.orders of this, like Kickstarter, but had developed an independent "pre-order" on its site. So not having a third party to check it the product was too late to be manufactured resulting in the demand for refunds from the prospective buyers. A rule of FTC Mail Order requires that if a pre-ordered product is delayed significantly, the company will have to refund the amount unless the customers declare they are not bothered by the wait.
This is the second Lily Robotics crime that has forced the prosecutor's office to file a temporary binding order to block Lily's assets.
Lily has promised to repay the money, but she will also have to pay civil penalties: $2.500 for each of thefundamentals described above for each case. Depending on how the judge interprets the facts and how the lawyers present their case, the fine could be anywhere from a few thousand dollars to as much as $300 million.