Xiaodi Hou, co-founder and former CEO of autonomous trucking startup TuSimple, urged a California district court to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the company from moving its remaining U.S. assets to China, according to a recent court filing.

Hou, who plans to seek a temporary restraining order in December at the next scheduled court hearing, hopes to stop TuSimple from moving tens of millions of dollars in cash to China. As of September, TuSimple had approximately $450 million in capital. Hou is also requesting expedited discovery of evidence to assist in his motion request.

Hou’s statement to the court, filed Monday, is the latest escalation in the battle between TuSimple and some of its shareholdersabout the company’s attempts to use investor capital to fund a new AI-generated animation and video game business in China.

This is the first time that Hou — who was ousted from his role as CEO in 2022 – publicly accused TuSimple and its executives of funneling assets into animation and gaming companies owned by or with direct ties to Mo Chen, co-founder and chairman of the board of TuSimple, under the guise of a commercial pivot. Hou also argued that the company violated SEC regulations by failing to notify or obtain shareholder approval before changing its business focus or moving funds to China.

Hou now runs a new autonomous trucking startup in Texas

TuSimple, once valued at $8.5 billion after its IPO 2021faced setbacks that led his U.S. close and delisting in January 2024. The company’s stated goal was to commercialize its audiovisual technology in China. But as the year progressed, TuSimple downsized, shut down its self-driving operations, and began hiring staff to handle AI gaming and animation tasks.

Shareholders sent a letter to the board in August after learning that TuSimple was devoting resources to AI games and animation. The board responded a few weeks later by publicly announcing the new business unit.

Hou this week urged the court to issue a temporary restraining order after noticing a TuSimple China filing indicating the company was about to move money (or had already done so) out of the United States . Two subsidiaries of TuSimple China recorded an increase in assets worth a collective $150 million last week, according to Hou’s statement and information from public records.

“These documents show a suspicious increase in registered assets between these two subsidiaries in one day, a precursor to a significant transfer of money from the United States to China,” the statement read. “The most likely scenario is that these deposits in China are the preparatory steps before TuSimple US transfers money to these subsidiaries in China.”

Hou added that such large money transfers are “beyond the ordinary course of business” and comparable to “the heyday of TuSimple China’s business, when it operated a large fleet of autonomous trucks in Shanghai.” and had approximately 700 employees. As of September, TuSimple China had around 200 employees.

The window of opportunity for shareholders like Hou to get what they want – that is, liquidating TuSimple so they can recoup some of their losses – is narrowing.

TuSimple is in a gray area when it comes to enforcement from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although TuSimple was delisted earlier this year, the company is still registered with the SEC and therefore subject to U.S. scrutiny. Once the money is sent to China, American shareholders will have no recourse to recover the funds from their initial investment.

TechCrunch contacted the SEC to find out if the agency is investigating TuSimple regarding shareholder complaints.

TuSimple did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.