Faraday Future says review found inaccurate statements made to investors

Electric Last Mile Solutions

01/02/2022 23:56

Feb 1 (Reuters) - Electric vehicle firm Faraday Future
Intelligent Electric Inc  FFIE.O  said on Tuesday its review had
identified certain inaccurate statements made by its employees
to investors and announced changes in its leadership structure.
    Faraday said it had appointed Susan Swenson, currently an
independent member of its board, to the newly created position
of executive chairperson of the company.
    The company said its chief executive officer Carsten
Breitfield and founder Jia Yueting would both be handed a 25%
cut each in their annual base salary. Both Breitfield and
Yueting would report to the newly appointed executive
chairperson, according to Faraday.
    Faraday in November had delayed the filing of its quarterly
report and said it had formed a special committee to review
allegations of inaccurate disclosures, including claims made by
short-seller J Capital. The short-seller had called Faraday "a
new EV scam in town".
    On Tuesday, Faraday said statements made by some of its
employees to certain investors describing founder Jia Yueting's
role within the company were inaccurate, and his involvement in
the company's management post its merger with blank-check firm
Property Solutions Acquisition Corp "was more significant than
what had been represented."
    However, the company maintained allegations made in the
short-seller report were not supported by the evidence reviewed.
    Several EV companies, including Lordstown Motors  RIDE.O ,
Nikola  NKLA.O , both of which went public via acquisitions by
special-purpose acquisition companies (SPAC), have found
themselves under investigation for mistatements by former top
executives and are under the scrutiny of short-sellers.
    The chairman and CEO of Electric Last Mile Solutions Inc
 ELMS.O , which also went public through a SPAC, resigned on
Tuesday following an investigation into their share purchases.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2UC3FA
    Further investigation based on the special committee's
findings would be under the executive chairperson's direction,
Faraday said.
    Faraday went public in July through a SPAC deal with
Property Solutions Acquisition Corp.
    

    

 (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Editing by Krishna Chandra
Eluri)
 ((Amruta.Khandekar@thomsonreuters.com;))