SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (WMC) – A mechanical contractor who helped build Elon Musk’s Memphis-area data centers at breakneck speed has filed a lawsuit claiming SpaceXAI owes them hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid wages.
Darana Hybrid Inc. filed the lawsuit in Mississippi on August 6, claiming the company is owed $432.5 million in unpaid contract work performed at four different sites.
The lawsuit seeks $136.8 million in immediate damages.
The four Mississippi locations where the work occurred are 2400 Stateline Road, 2875 Stanton Road and 3883 US-51 in Southaven, and 7700 Nail Road in Olive Branch.
SpaceXAI also recently filed a lawsuit against Darana Hybrid, which alleges CEO Darryl Cuttell was defrauding SpaceXAI in part to fund side projects, including his local raceway renovation project.
SpaceXAI claims that Darana tried to gain leverage on its billing dispute by withholding tens of millions of dollars in payments to its vendors and suppliers, forcing the tech giant to fulfill Darana’s promise to pay them.
SpaceXAI wants to take the matter to trial.
The company also wants Darana to pay at least $500 million in compensatory damages, plus mitigation costs, punitive and statutory damages, and court costs.
SpaceXAI is a product of xAI merging with SpaceX earlier this year. Cuttell said his company’s working relationship with xAI was solid until the merger. After that, he said, his invoices stopped getting paid.
SpaceXAI and its two subsidiaries filed suit against Cuttell’s company on August 4, one day after he spoke publicly about the liens.
The suit alleges that Cuttell overbilled and defrauded SpaceXAI of hundreds of millions of dollars, partially to fund “out-of-scope work on hot rod projects.”
Cuttell purchased the International Hot Rod Association last year. He had planned a major renovation of the long-shuttered Memphis Motorsports Park in Millington, now called the Darana Motorsports Park.
A groundbreaking was held in January. But now, Cuttell told Action News 5 the project is on “indefinite hold” and that he is considering selling off IHRA properties to pay his own bills.
Click here to sign up for our newsletter!
Click here to report a spelling or grammar error. Please include the headline.
Copyright 2026 WMC. All rights reserved.