The unfinished Apex 1 battery-materials plant in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, now belongs to the contractor that built it. Turner-Kokosing Joint Venture, the partnership of Turner Construction and Kokosing Industrial, won the plant at a bankruptcy auction on May 26, 2026, and paid for it partly with the bill it had spent more than a year trying to collect from the plant’s owner, Ascend Elements.
That bill is in dispute. Turner-Kokosing says Ascend owes it about $138.4 million. Ascend’s president and CEO, Linh Austin, told the bankruptcy court in a sworn declaration filed April 9 that the company paused the project in early 2025 while “skeptical of TKJV’s revised estimates while also suspecting fraudulent billing.” Ascend filed counterclaims alleging that the joint venture and one of its subcontractors “negligently and/or fraudulently overcharged the project by at least $16 million.” Those are Ascend’s allegations. As of the April filing, the fight was still in arbitration, and no court or arbitrator had ruled on who was right.
The sale ended that fight. The purchase agreement approved in the June 5 sale order requires Ascend to release every claim it had against the buyer as of closing. The deal closed June 10. A half-built plant backed by hundreds of millions of federal dollars went to the company Ascend had accused of overcharging it, and part of the price was paid with that company’s contested invoice.
Kentucky lien law turned a disputed invoice into buying power
Turner-Kokosing filed suit in Christian Circuit Court in early 2025. According to WHOPAM’s courtroom coverage, it sought $138.4 million plus 12% interest for work it says Ascend failed to pay for by December 20, 2024. About 20 lawyers for subcontractors also appeared at an April 2025 hearing. Austin’s declaration says many of those subcontractors recorded mechanics’ liens of their own…