‘MOUSETRAP’

Old Friend Claims OceanGate CEO Always Knew Titanic Sub Was Doomed

Karl Stanley told “60 Minutes Australia” the late CEO “definitely knew it was going to end like this.”

A friend of the late OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who died along with three others when the Titan submersible imploded last month, didn’t mince words while criticizing his old pal an interview with 60 Minutes Australia, declaring that Rush created a “mousetrap for billionaires.” The friend, Karl Stanley, added that Rush “definitely knew” the Titan would eventually implode, namely because it was made of carbon fiber. “He literally and figuratively went out with the biggest bang in human history,” Stanley said. “And he was the last person to murder two billionaires at once and have them pay for the privilege.” Stanley, who dove with Rush inside the Titan in 2019, said he desperately tried to get Rush to abandon the submersible to spare his life and others—especially after he heard “cracking” during their dive, but Rush refused to listen.