Austin Russell

Austin Russell is an American entrepreneur, founder and former CEO of now bankrupt Luminar Technologies. Luminar specializes in lidar and machine perception technologies, mainly used in autonomous cars. Luminar went public in December 2020, temporarily making him a billionaire, though his wealth was largely derived from stock sales executed prior to Luminar's financial collapse. In May 2023, Russell began negotiating a contract to become the majority owner of Forbes, but the deal fell through in November after Russell was unable to fund it. In December 2025, Luminar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and Russell became the subject of legal proceedings involving bankruptcy discovery obligations, a defaulted personal loan, and employment allegations. His Pacific Palisades mansion, purchased for $83 million in 2021, was destroyed in the January 2025 Palisades Fire and later declared a public nuisance.