Executives from a multibillion dollar critical mineral company that once considered establishing its St. Louis headquarters have returned to the city for an unusual purpose: participating in a deposition tied to a paternity lawsuit.
While the paternity case itself is sealed, a related St. Louis County case reveals records of a contentious dispute involving the multibillion dollar company. The records suggest that the former wife of local attorney Al Watkins, who is originally from Peru, expressed concerns about a Peruvian immigrant she believed to be in the country illegally. This woman was residing in the home of the company’s executive chairman—prompting Watkins’ ex-wife to make a welfare check call. This contact sparked legal proceedings and allegations from Watkins that the company’s legal counsel failed to inform shareholders about the woman’s immigration situation.
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John Arrastia, the attorney in question, declined to comment on these allegations, citing the sealed status of the paternity case.
Arrastia serves as chief legal officer of Evolution Metals and Technology, a West Palm Beach-based company valued at approximately $4 billion. The company is relatively new, formed through a SPAC merger involving Florida-based Evolution Metals LLC, which was to acquire the St. Louis-based Critical Mineral Recovery and four Korean companies. The merged entity would go public as Evolution Metals and Technology. St. Louis businessman Rob Feldman was slated to become co-CEO, and Watkins was to serve as chief legal officer. The deal was expected to close in July of the previous year.
However, the deal fell through, and Watkins’ relationship with the company became contentious. Watkins disclosed to SLM that he discovered executive chairman David Wilcox owned a similarly named company, Evolution Metals Corporation, which faced lawsuits from an investor and former executive claiming they were owed money.
Despite Watkins’ concerns, Evolution Metals completed its SPAC deal and went public in January without Feldman’s company or Watkins involved.
Nevertheless, Watkins and Wilcox’s relationship continued to develop complications. Earlier this year, attorneys representing Wilcox in an Idaho paternity suit began seeking to depose Watkins’ ex-wife, Carolina Diaz-Silva.
Although paternity suit documents remain sealed, public records reveal over 300 court filings since the case commenced 14 months ago. The situation also generated a separate case in St. Louis County Circuit Court, where attorneys from Lewis Rice subpoenaed Diaz-Silva in February, requesting “certain documents” from her. Diaz-Silva was married to Watkins during the 1990s.
According to Watkins, the effort aimed to determine how Diaz-Silva obtained a phone number for a Peruvian woman employed by Wilcox. Watkins states: “Mr. Wilcox appears to be consumed to his own detriment with determining the source of the phone number for the undocumented Peruvian domestic servant.”
The attempt to depose Diaz-Silva became contentious.
Last month, a Lewis Rice attorney submitted a motion requesting that the St. Louis County judge permit Evolution’s lawyer, Arrastia, to participate in the case pro hac vice, a routine filing allowing attorneys licensed in other states to enter cases with judicial approval. Such requests are rarely denied.
Diaz-Silva’s attorney, Patrick Watts, opposed Arrastia’s participation. In a detailed filing, Watts contended that Wilcox was proceeding in “bad faith” by seeking Diaz-Silva’s deposition. His submission noted Watkins’ public criticism of Wilcox and claimed Arrastia had previously made inaccurate statements about him to SLM. The combination of Watkins’ vocal opposition to Wilcox and the fact that the woman being deposed is Watkins’ ex-wife created “obvious implications of bad faith,” he argued.
The filing then escalated significantly. Watts accused Arrastia of neglecting to disclose to Evolution’s board that Wilcox employs “Peruvian foreign nationals as domestic servants” without lawful immigration status. He also contended that Arrastia faced conflicting loyalties—serving both Wilcox personally as his paternity suit lawyer and Evolution Metals’ shareholders as chief legal officer. The filing noted that the mother of Wilcox’s child is herself an Evolution shareholder.
Adding to the complexity, Evolution’s former CFO, Robert Loitman, filed his own motion opposing Arrastia’s participation. Loitman, a St. Louis native and former corporate executive who previously ran a consulting firm in Los Angeles, was recruited by Evolution but subsequently became a vocal company critic. He alleges to SLM that Wilcox obstructed the development of necessary corporate infrastructure for the planned multibillion-dollar enterprise. Loitman currently has an active lawsuit against Wilcox, claiming wrongful termination as the company was approaching its public offering—an event that would have triggered a $5 million payment to him. A judge partially rejected Wilcox’s motion to dismiss Loitman’s lawsuit late last month, allowing portions to proceed.
In response, Wilcox’s attorney characterized Loitman in court filings as “a disgruntled former employee of Evolution Metals LLC, before Evolution Metals and Technologies even existed.” The attorney questioned Loitman’s legitimate interest in whether a St. Louis woman should be deposed regarding an Idaho paternity matter.
“Regarding the allegations about my involvement in the Missouri proceeding, those were rejected by the court and the pro hac vice application granted,” Arrastia wrote to SLM via email.
Indeed, Wilcox’s attorneys did not need to file responses to Watts’ detailed brief. On the same day Watts submitted his filing, St. Louis County Judge Bruce Hilton approved Arrastia’s admission. Diaz-Silva underwent her deposition in late May, with Arrastia traveling to St. Louis for the proceeding.
The deposition transcript shows Diaz-Silva was questioned about two calls she made in fall 2025 to a Peruvian household worker employed by Wilcox in Idaho. Diaz-Silva explained she contacted the woman to check her welfare after being informed that Wilcox was “dangerous” and that the woman faced potential ICE detention. According to Diaz-Silva’s account, the woman indicated she was fine, and that concluded the conversation, which occurred in Spanish. Diaz-Silva noted she was motivated by concern for a young woman from her native country. She stated she had forgotten about the call until receiving the subpoena for the deposition.
When asked during the deposition who informed her about the Peruvian worker’s situation and provided her phone number, Diaz-Silva answered, “Albert Watkins.”
The conversation between Diaz-Silva and the household worker was recorded, and its transcript was presented at the deposition. During the call, Diaz-Silva told the woman, “So they told me that this man, David Wilcox, is being investigated by the authorities and that it would be better if you found another place to, how would you say, be safe for, for various reasons because ICE can come at any moment.”
During questioning, Arrastia expressed substantial doubt regarding whether Watkins provided the phone number solely out of concern for an allegedly undocumented immigrant residing many states away. Diaz-Silva characterized Watkins as “a very caring person” but admitted this was the only instance she could recall of him asking her to contact a stranger he believed needed assistance.
“I was not present during the deposition, but I understand Ms. Diaz-Silva spoke very favorably about me and suggested Mr. Arrastia get to know me … that I was very nice,” Watkins tells SLM via email. (The deposition transcript confirms this account.)
The entire Evolution enterprise—both the iteration that did not go public in July 2025 and the current publicly traded entity—centers on creating a more sustainable, domestic supply chain for critical minerals used in iPhones, electric vehicles, and computer chips. The concept involves recycling these minerals from discarded electronics such as outdated computers and smartphones instead of mining them in regions like Central Africa and processing them in China, enabling domestic processing instead.
In the weeks following Evolution’s January public offering, its stock price surged from $10 per share to just over $24, reaching a market capitalization of roughly $15 billion.
By this past Tuesday, however, the stock had declined to approximately $7 per share, corresponding to a market capitalization near $4.3 billion.
During late April, prominent law firm Jones Day filed suit in Georgia alleging Evolution owed $3.9 million in unpaid legal fees for work preparing the company’s NASDAQ public offering.
Jones Day states its attorneys “performed substantial, complicated legal work” for Evolution from August 2024 through December 2025. According to the lawsuit, deal modifications—including the removal of Feldman’s company—necessitated “significant work to restructure,” raising costs. Following July 2025, when Feldman’s company was excluded, Jones Day claims Evolution continued requesting legal work and repeatedly pledged payment even as unpaid invoices topped $2 million before ceasing all communication in November 2025. The firm reports withdrawing representation on Dec. 13, just under a month prior to Evolution’s NASDAQ listing. Jones Day’s complaint states Evolution ultimately paid approximately $600,000 of the roughly $4.3 million owed.
In its lawsuit response, Evolution contends that Jones Day’s work “was executed so poorly that Evolution Metals had to engage a different law firm to complete the project.”
Regarding developments unfolding in Idaho, Missouri, and Georgia courts, Watkins comments: “A thorough examination of the public record was sufficient to reveal numerous ethical, legal, and regulatory concerns surrounding various individuals associated with Mr. Wilcox and Evolution. I maintain no measure of concealment will remedy this persistent problem.”
