Titanic Sub CEO Was Willing to "Buy a Congressman" to Make Problems "Go Away"

The arrogance is astounding.

Blatant Bribes

The former CEO of OceanGate Stockton Rush allegedly said he'd "buy a congressman" to make any problems with the doomed Titan submersible "go away," according to new testimony.

During a US Coast Guard hearing on the Titan's disastrous expedition, former OceanGate employee Matthew McCoy said that Rush made the comments after he tried to raise safety concerns to the CEO at a lunch meeting.

Among a host of worrying issues with the submersible, McCoy was uncomfortable with Rush's insistence that they operate Titan without it receiving a Certificate of Inspection from the Coast Guard.

Rather than address the concerns, Rush said that he could circumvent regulatory hurdles by going through the Bahamas and Canada to launch the expedition, according to CNN. And if domestic regulators didn't play ball, Rush allegedly stated — straight up — that he'd bribe someone in Congress.

"The conversation basically ended when he, after explaining that the Coast Guard had tried to shut him down, down in California, and that he wouldn't operate there anymore, but that if the Coast Guard became a problem, that he would buy himself a congressman and make it go away," McCoy said Friday, the last day of the two-week long hearing, as quoted by CNN.

Word for Word

These are extremely troubling allegations. But McCoy was steadfast when he was asked if that was a direct quote.

"He said, 'I would buy a congressman' and make, basically, the problems would go away at that point in time," McCoy said, per CNN. "That will stand in my mind for the rest of time. I've never had anybody say that to me directly, and I was aghast and basically, after that, I resigned from the company."

Given Rush's alarming track record of flaunting safety concerns — and boasting about it — McCoy's testimony isn't hard to believe.

But the fact that Rush didn't even care to dress up his willingness to resort to corruption paints an even more damning portrait of his monomaniacal drive to build the Titan exactly as he saw fit, even if it meant endangering the people who trusted him to safely shepherd them to extreme ocean depths.

Seeking Justice

Rush and four passengers died aboard the vessel when it imploded during its descent to the wreck of the Titan last year.

Since then, the submersible's design has come under intense scrutiny. Experts have criticized Rush's decision to make the hull out of carbon fiber, as well as its unusually shaped design that's considered ill-suited to handle immense pressures.

The recently wrapped-up hearing aired out many of these criticisms from over two dozen employees who worked at OceanGate, as well as experts from third parties like NASA and Boeing, who were asked to consult in a role that both parties maintain was minimal and overblown by Rush.

The findings of the hearing are currently being reviewed by the Coast Guard's Maritime Board of Investigation. Its conclusion will be published in a full report that could finally give an official answer on what caused — and who's to blame — for the disaster.

More on OceanGate: New Footage Shows Imploded Crew Compartment of Doomed Titanic Sub