> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.urgentmatter.press/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Titanic artifacts company says it could run out of money within six months - URL: https://www.urgentmatter.press/titanic-artifacts-company-says-it-could-run-out-of-money-within-six-months/ - Published: 2026-10-13T01:23:38.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-13T01:23:38.000Z - Description: A federal appeals court agreed to fast-track R.M.S. Titanic Inc.’s bid to auction 100 artifacts. - Author: Adam Schrader - Tags: Law and Crime, #public-access The company that owns the artifacts recovered from the Titanic wreck told a federal appeals court it will likely run out of money within a year, possibly within six months, unless it can sell part of the collection, according to court records obtained by Urgent Matter. R.M.S. Titanic Inc., known as RMST, made the claim in an October 9 motion asking a federal appeals court to speed up its appeal. The appeal challenges an order by Senior U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith in Norfolk, Virginia, barring RMST from auctioning items from the “French Collection.” RMST wants to sell 100 artifacts, including a bronze cherub from the grand staircase and the bell from the ship’s crow’s nest, [The New York Times reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/arts/design/titanic-artifacts-sale-halted-judge.html?ref=urgentmatter.press) in August. The appeals court granted RMST’s motion 29 minutes after it was filed, new court documents show. RMST’s opening brief is now due October 29, moved earlier from November 17. [Add Urgent Matter on Google](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=urgentmatter.press&ref=urgentmatter.press) “Without revenue from the sale of items from the French Collection or an alternative source of funding, RMST may not survive long enough to take advantage of any appellate decision,” the company’s lawyers wrote. The motion includes a sworn declaration from Kristofer Soder, RMST’s sole director. Soder said the company’s main line of credit matured on March 31 and it has not obtained new financing since. “That estimate does not account for payment of substantial accrued and unpaid interest under the credit facility, which, if required to be paid, would shorten the estimated period significantly,” Soder said of the six-month to one-year projection. ***Paid subscribers can*** [***read the court documents***](https://www.urgentmatter.press/court-documents-rms-titanic-appeal/)***.*** [Docs: R.M.S. Titanic’s appeal over French Collection auctionDocuments from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3c/26/3c26cf7a-2384-4a8d-82e1-f44702177698/content/images/icon/urgent-matter-icon-984a891d-d46e-4876-91c8-ed7cad9777ec.jpg)Urgent MatterAdam Schrader![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/3c/26/3c26cf7a-2384-4a8d-82e1-f44702177698/content/images/thumbnail/urgent-matter-icon-2-28ed3b8b-d891-4d3f-a41a-df9ea27ea38f.jpg)](https://www.urgentmatter.press/court-documents-rms-titanic-appeal/) Soder has also been CEO of Experiential Media Group since July 2024\. That sister company runs touring exhibitions using RMST’s artifacts. RMST pays for those shows, the Times reported. In August, it had permanent displays in Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida, plus five traveling exhibitions in Cleveland; Portland, Oregon; Germany; Poland; and the Czech Republic. Soder said the companies have undergone multiple layoffs, consolidated offices, canceled exhibition tours they could no longer afford, and negotiated deferrals with creditors. Experiential Media Group is also defending a federal lawsuit in Louisiana, brought by C-Innovation, over money it allegedly owes. “If the Company is not permitted to sell any items from the French Collection, it will be exceedingly difficult to borrow additional funds, because lenders would have no reliable source of expected revenue to support any further extension of credit,” Soder said. The court controls a reserve account pledged to the long-term care of the artifacts. Soder said the company cannot use it for operating costs without court approval, and the account is not yet fully funded. Premier Acquisition Holdings wholly owns RMST. It was formed in June 2018 to buy the assets of Premier Exhibitions Inc., including RMST’s stock, out of bankruptcy. The Norfolk court approved the sale that December. At an August hearing, Smith questioned how serious the company’s financial problems were, the Times reported. She noted that a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, the private equity firm co-founded by Leon Black, owns a stake in the company. “The company R.M.S.T. is in financial straits,” RMST lawyer Brian Wainger told the judge. The French Collection dates to a 1987 joint expedition with a French government research institute. RMST’s predecessor, Titanic Ventures, made 32 dives and recovered about 1,800 artifacts. French authorities granted the company title to those items in 1993\. The grant came after the company promised never to sell them or break up the collection. RMST filed its case over the wreck in Norfolk in 1993\. Artifacts it raised on expeditions from 1993 through 2004, called the “American Collection,” came under that court’s control. In all, the company has raised about 5,500 artifacts from the wreck. The court granted RMST title to the American Collection in 2011, under conditions that require court approval of any sale. One condition calls for those artifacts to be kept and cared for together with the French Collection as a single collection. In 2006, the 4th Circuit ruled that the Norfolk court had no authority over the 1987 artifacts. The appeals court wrote that “there is no other jurisdictional basis upon which the court could declare the rights to the 1987 artifacts.” ## Sign up for Urgent Matter This article is provided free with the support of paying subscribers. Not ready for a paid subscription? Sign up for a free account today. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. RMST told the district court on March 6 that it planned to sell items from the French Collection. It did not ask for the court’s approval. The U.S. government, which takes part in the case as a friend of the court, argued that any sale from the French Collection needs the judge’s sign-off. It urged Smith to bar RMST from advertising or holding an auction. France and 19 groups and individuals from the U.S. and Europe also opposed the sale. Smith put the sale on hold April 2. In her August 24 opinion, Smith called the auction “an apparent threat to the integrity of both the American and French collections,” the Times reported. She ruled that the sale falls under the court’s “jurisdiction and approval,” according to RMST’s motion. Smith ordered RMST to file an inventory of all 5,500 artifacts, covering where and when each was recovered, where it is now and its condition. She also ordered the company to show it can still afford to care for the collections. The sale remains blocked at least until RMST files a “complete and satisfactory inventory.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration must then have a chance to submit a recommendation through the federal government. Smith called that process “potentially lengthy,” and RMST said an audit like the one she ordered can take many months or even a year. Smith has since paused proceedings in her court until the appeal is decided. RMST described the appeal in its docketing statement as “a binary issue of whether the District Court has subject matter jurisdiction to prohibit RMST from selling those artifacts.” It argues the 2011 conditions' sale limits cover only the American Collection. RMST is not challenging the order as it applies to that collection, and Soder said the company has never proposed selling those items. Justice Department lawyers Andrew Bernie and Sharon Swingle have entered appearances in the appeal. RMST’s motion said the department is “actively considering” filing a brief but needs approval from the solicitor general. The motion said the department’s lawyers agreed to the fast-tracked schedule. *Urgent Matter is reader-supported. Please* [*consider subscribing*](https://www.urgentmatter.press/36-antiquities-returned-to-syria-including-13-seized-from-the-met/#/portal) *to support independent arts journalism.*