Contractor Has Not Slept in Four Months After Elon Musk's SpaceXAI Allegedly Withholds $136 Million

SpaceXAI is facing more than $136 million in lien claims in Greater Memphis after Ohio contractor Darana Hybrid alleged in filings reported on 31 July that it had not been paid for data-centre construction carried out since 2024. Its owner, Darryl Cuttell, told local reporting that the dispute had left him unable to sleep for more than four months.

For context, the claim concerns work at Elon Musk's Colossus and Colossus II data-centre projects, which were developed at speed in the Memphis area as the company expanded its artificial intelligence infrastructure. The Memphis Business Journal first reported the filings, while a local broadcaster later interviewed reporter Dima Amro about the contractors' allegations.

IBTimes UK cannot independently verify the claims set out in the liens, so they should be treated as allegations. The supplied reporting does not include a response from SpaceXAI.

SpaceXAI Liens Put Colossus Construction Under Scrutiny

According to records cited from the Shelby County Register of Deeds, Darana Hybrid filed two liens against SpaceXAI. One seeks $18 million (£13.36 million) for construction work at the first Colossus facility near Boxtown. The second seeks more than $118 million (£87.61 million) for work at the company's Whitehaven site.

Together, the claims exceed $136 million (£100.98 million). For a company building infrastructure on a colossal scale, it is an eye-catching sum, particularly because the contractor alleges the payments relate to work performed over several years.

'The contractors are alleging they haven't been paid for years of construction work,' Amro said

The dispute may not end with the two Shelby County filings. Amro said she had been told that further liens could be filed in Mississippi, potentially adding about $400 million to the amount sought from SpaceXAI-connected facilities.

'So it looks like more liens are going to be coming to the surface,' Amro said. 'About $400 million more worth of liens. I was told that that would be filed in Mississippi for the SpaceXAI facilities there.'

That figure has not been confirmed in court filings cited in the supplied report. Still, the prospect of further claims suggests Darana Hybrid's dispute is not a narrow argument over one invoice or one site. It could become a much larger test of how quickly built, high-value AI projects handle the contractors doing the physical work.

SpaceXAI Contractor Describes Personal Toll

The financial argument is playing out in public records, but Cuttell's reported account gives it a more immediate human cost. Amro said the Darana Hybrid owner had described severe stress since pursuing the liens.

'He said he hasn't slept in over four months. He's lost a lot of weight. And he feels like there's no future right now after filing those liens,' she told Action 5 News.

Those remarks are a personal account, not a medical finding. Yet they illustrate the imbalance that can arise when a smaller contractor is locked in a payment dispute with a company attached to one of the world's richest businessmen. It is the sort of stuff that rarely appears in a glossy announcement about computing capacity or artificial intelligence.

Other firms have also lodged claims linked to the projects, according to the reporting. USW-Menard Inc and TorcSill Foundations have filed liens totalling more than $2.2 million (£1.63 million) for work at SpaceXAI data-centre facilities.

The Colossus developments have already attracted local criticism over their rapid construction and the use of gas turbines, which residents have said affected air quality near the sites. The payment allegations add another uncomfortable question to the projects' development. Speed may be useful when the race is for computing power, but someone still has to pay the people pouring concrete, laying foundations and putting the buildings up.

Musk has faced comparable accusations before. A 2025 investigation found that Tesla contractors had filed liens for more than $110 million (£81.67 million) in allegedly unpaid money over five years, including claims from smaller businesses.

Whether the SpaceXAI filings result in payment, litigation or a settlement remains unclear. For now, the public record shows claims worth more than $136 million (£100.98 million), and a contractor who says the strain has already cost him four months of sleep.