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Apple Car Executive and Former Canoo CEO Ulrich Kranz Facing SEC Lawsuit

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Ulrich Kranz, the former CEO of electric car company Canoo and a key executive on the Apple Car team, is facing an SEC lawsuit, reports Bloomberg. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission believes that Kranz provided unreasonable revenue projections for Canoo and also misstated how much he was paid.

Apple-car-wheel-icon-feature-yellow.jpg

Apple hired Ulrich Kranz back in 2021 for its Apple Car project. Kranz is known for founding self-driving car startup Canoo, and prior to that, he spent 30 years at BMW. Canoo is still around and may be most recognizable for its odd-looking "Lifestyle Vehicle," which has not yet been produced for the public.

Canoo has been struggling to stay afloat since Kranz left the company, but last month successfully delivered three electric vans to NASA, which will be used for the Artemis moon missions next year. The vehicles will transport astronauts, flight crew, and equipment to the launch pad ahead of the launch.

Kranz has not been involved with Canoo since early 2021, but the SEC is aiming to prevent him from serving as an officer at a public company going forward, which could potentially impact his future career trajectory at Apple.

Article Link: Apple Car Executive and Former Canoo CEO Ulrich Kranz Facing SEC Lawsuit
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/08/04/apple-executive-canoo-sec-lawsuit/
So they’re going after him for things that happened 2+ years ago. That’s actually good to see…
Canoos biz model used to be to “rent” their cars out basically, they’ve been struggling for years now, stock isn’t worth anything…
Still wish they’d become successful
 
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some more info, these guys are in trouble ... and be prepared for another executive leaving the Apple car project ...

In the complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, the SEC said Ulrich Kranz, the company's former chief executive, and Paul Balciunas, its former chief financial officer, misled investors about the company's financial prospects before it went public in a merger with a special purpose acquisition company in December 2020.

In the run-up to the deal, Canoo had projected revenue of $120 million in 2021 and $250 million in 2022 based on deals to provide engineering services to other companies. The SEC said Kranz and Balciunas knew before the merger that the projects were unlikely to generate revenue.

The carmaker's stock plunged 21% after it announced in March 2021 that it would not achieve the anticipated revenue, the SEC said.

The regulator also alleged that Kranz failed to disclose more than $900,000 in compensation he received from two Canoo investors in October 2020 to stay with the company.

Attorneys representing Kranz and Balciunas in a shareholder lawsuit over the revenue projections did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Canoo said in May that it had tentatively agreed to pay a $1.5 million penalty to settle with the SEC
finance.yahoo.com

UPDATE 2-SEC sues two ex-Canoo executives over reporting failures

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued two former executives of electric vehicle company Canoo Inc on Friday over what the regulator alleges were reporting failures related to hundreds of millions of dollars of unreasonable revenue projections. In the complaint filed in Los Angeles...
finance.yahoo.com finance.yahoo.com
 
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Kierkegaarden said:
What you posted were allegations from the SEC. Until they can prove what they are alleging in court, the man should be considered innocent.
Click to expand...
Canoo said in May that it had tentatively agreed to pay a $1.5 million penalty to settle with the SEC
that is almost an admiral of wrong doing ...
But, you are correct, innocent until proven guilty says the law, and I preceded my comment with "imho", and I stand by that
 
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In our emotionally packed, 24-hour news cycle of information overload, it is easy to act as judge, jury and executioner.

Despite what the papers say or not, despite what an investor paid him, or not, he is entitled to a fair trial; and not the trial of public opinion. Cancel culture is terrible, as it hurts people without providing the opportunity for a fair defense.

I think it would be wise for Apple to sit down with this guy and ask him what's up. If it smells bad, he may need to go on administrative leave while he sorts things out.

For the rest of us, let the SEC do their investigation and allow him to present evidence in his defense.

Too many people go down before they even have a chance to answer back which is not how a moral and just society functions.
 
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Sami13496 said:
Could you elaborate on that? I’d like to hear why you think EV cars are dead? In my country at least gasoline car sales have gone down by 50% in the last 2 years and demand towards EVs is growing.
Click to expand...
I hope they're not dead. If they are, we're gonna be screwed in Europe, where most of the countries have set imminent deadlines that will soon make it illegal to sell cars powered by an internal combustion engine. Assuming respective governments don't row back on those commitments, of course. So, guess we'll all be walking...cycling....
 
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jz0309 said:
Canoo said in May that it had tentatively agreed to pay a $1.5 million penalty to settle with the SEC
that is almost an admiral of wrong doing ...
But, you are correct, innocent until proven guilty says the law, and I preceded my comment with "imho", and I stand by that
Click to expand...
The $1.5m settlement was between Canoo and the SEC related to the SPAC merger. It seems like the SEC now believes Kranz had a role in this deception. We shall see.

One thing is certain — I think any company that goes public via SPAC is one of the riskiest investments one can make. The SEC probably is right to scrutinize the activities around them.
 
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MacProFCP said:
In our emotionally packed, 24-hour news cycle of information overload, it is easy to act as judge, jury, and executioner.

Despite what the papers say or not, despite what an investor paid him or not, he is entitled to a fair trial, and not the trial of public opinion. Cancel culture is terrible, as it hurts people without the opportunity to provide a fair defence.

I think it would be wise for Apple to sit down with this guy and ask him what's up. If it smells bad, he may need to go on administrative leave while he sorts things out.

For the rest of us, let the SEC do its investigation and allow him to present evidence in defense.

Too many people go down before they even have a chance to answer back which is not how a moral and just society functions.
Click to expand...
👏 Thank you for saying all of this. If we all take to heart what MacProFCP says here, our world would be a better place.
 
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