Η company Lily Robotics, which pre-sold the Lily drone, announced it was shutting down 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 District Attorney's Office has conducted a “multi-month research" about Lily Drone and came to the following conclusion: The very expensive professional camera that brought the drone to company's promotional video it was not actually a Lily, but a DJI Inspire, something the creators failed to report. As a result, drone's fantastic aerial video ad was misleading prospective customers to make prepayment and ordering.
In addition, the company had promised the delivery of the drone in February of 2016, which never happened. The prosecutor's office claims that the company's customers due to the delay requested their money back, but Lily had used that money to cover the $ 4 million bank loan.
The company had not used well-known websites to advertise the product and its pre-orders, such as Kickstarter, but had developed an independent "pre-order" on its site. Having no third party to control the product, it was too late to be manufactured, resulting in a refund requirement from potential buyers. One of his rules 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 be from a few thousand dollars to as much as $300 million.