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The trenchless pipe repair innovator IST North America LLC (ISTNA) has ignited a new legal firestorm, filing a $10 million lawsuit in New York federal court that accuses Trelleborg Sealing Solutions US Inc. and its affiliates of orchestrating a “calculated campaign of deception and corporate sabotage” designed to wipe out ISTNA’s business and steal its market.

The lawsuit follows an arbitral tribunal’s $10 million damages award earlier this year that found ISTNA’s former supplier, IST Germany, had breached an exclusivity agreement under Trelleborg’s alleged influence. Now, ISTNA is directly targeting the Swedish industrial giant, accusing it of turning a once-trusted partnership into what the company calls a “covert takeover operation.”

From Partnership to Alleged Betrayal

ISTNA, founded in 2019 by Geno Camali as a joint venture with IST Germany, claimed it pioneered trenchless pipe repair technology in North America—allowing buried municipal pipes to be restored without excavation. Under their exclusivity agreement, ISTNA became IST Germany’s sole distributor in the U.S. and Canada, a deal that Camali said justified millions in investments.

But according to the complaint, executives linked to Trelleborg were secretly plotting to acquire IST Germany under false pretenses while stripping it of assets and voiding its obligations to ISTNA. The goal, ISTNA alleges, was “simple but devastating — eliminate ISTNA’s exclusivity, render IST Germany judgment-proof, and install Trelleborg in ISTNA’s place.”

ISTNA said Trelleborg executives courted Camali’s trust over business dinners, promising collaboration while finalizing documents that “gutted IST Germany” and left ISTNA without suppliers, customers, or leverage.

“Weaponized Partnership” and a $10 Million Arbitration Award

When the alleged scheme came to light, ISTNA initiated arbitration against IST Germany in 2023. During the proceedings, IST Germany—allegedly controlled by Trelleborg—dumped tens of thousands of documents, many authored by Trelleborg staff, which ISTNA claims exposed the “full scale” of the deception.

Just before the evidentiary hearing, IST Germany filed for insolvency in Germany in a last-ditch effort to stall the case. The tribunal refused to pause proceedings, ultimately ruling in June 2025 that IST Germany’s breach was “willful, malicious, and conducted with the assistance and at the behest of Trelleborg.”

The arbitrators awarded ISTNA nearly $10 million in damages, affirming that Trelleborg’s interference caused IST Germany to repudiate its contractual obligations.

New Federal Case Targets Trelleborg Directly

ISTNA’s new lawsuit expands the battlefield, seeking additional damages, attorneys’ fees, and a jury trial against Trelleborg and its executives. The company accuses Trelleborg of engaging in deliberate deceit to capture its customers, technology, and goodwill — a move that ISTNA says drove it out of business entirely.

“Even as they smiled across a dinner table in Piermont, New York, assuring Mr. Camali that his company’s future was secure, they were finalizing documents that would gut IST Germany,” the complaint says.

Legal Teams and Industry Fallout

ISTNA is represented by Joseph Barbiere, Eric S. Latzer, and Brandon M. Fierro of Cole Schotz PC. Barbiere said Friday the company was “extremely disappointed in Trelleborg’s conduct,” calling it “rooted in bad faith and deception.”

Trelleborg has not yet commented on the allegations, and counsel for the defendants was not available as of Friday.

As the IST North America $10M lawsuit unfolds, the trenchless technology industry is watching closely. What began as a commercial alliance now reads like a boardroom thriller — where trust, contracts, and millions in market share were buried deeper than the very pipes ISTNA once repaired.