NewLead has faced other problems in recent months. Its CEO resigned in late October due to a "strictly personal legal matter," the company announced, and another one of its ships was auctioned off in Savannah, Ga., in August. U.S. marshals had detained that ship in April after some of NewLead's creditors sued in federal court over unpaid debts. The creditors described NewLead in their lawsuit as "little more than a hollow shell."