An air-purification and quality company headquartered in Charlotte is suing a European publishing business, claiming it purposely circulated an article containing fabricated details about its technology.
Charlotte-based Global Plasma Solutions — also known as GPS Air — filed a federal lawsuit on Jan. 26, 2022 over claims that Netherlands-based Elsevier refused to retract a study stating its technology was “unsafe and ineffective.” As a result, GPS Air is asking for damages estimated at $1.8 billion for the company’s alleged losses caused by the article.
GPS Air, a designer of indoor air-purification devices, is owned by Falfurrias Capital Partners — a Charlotte-based private equity firm co-founded by retired Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) CEO Hugh McColl. Falfurrias invested in the company in September 2018.
“I spend a large proportion of my time with GPS, and to see the effect on the working folks at GPS; the amount of jobs that have been lost; the harm that has been caused over these false claims; it's been difficult,” said Ken Walker, executive chairman at four of Falfurrias’ portfolio companies, including GPS Air.
Elsevier ranks among the largest science publishers in the world, specializing in scientific, technical and medical content. The company published a study in early 2021 in one of its peer-reviewed journals, “Building and Environment,” with a predetermined outcome that GPS’s Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization technology was ineffective and harmful to consumers,...
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