SEC sues Apple Car exec over securities rules at former employer

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion

Ulrich Kranz, now a senior executive working on the Apple Car, and a former colleague have been sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for incidents at their previous car firm.

Apple exec sued
Apple exec sued



Kranz has a long history in the automotive industry, first with 30 years at BMW and now as a senior Apple executive reporting to Kevin Lynch. In between the two roles, he co-founded an electric vehicle startup named Canoo, which is where the securities rules were allegedly breached.

According to Bloomberg, Canoo CEO Kranz and CFO Paul Balciunas are being sued for providing unreasonable revenue projections. Kranz is also accused of misrepresenting his income.

These financial issues appear to have been presented to a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which merged with Canoo in 2020. Canoo has previously agreed to pay an SEC fine of $1.5 million over the merger.

For this case, the SEC seeks fines to bar the two from serving as officers in public companies. This would not be good news for Apple, as Kranz is currently a senior executive at Apple.

Project Titan has had a problem holding on to leadership in recent years. One executive even left the Apple Car project after only six months on the job.

Neither Apple nor Balciunas's current employer Apex.AI has commented on the lawsuit.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    waveparticlewaveparticle Posts: 1,497member
    Apple lay off around 200 employees related to an Apple Car project. And one of them was sued for stealing secrets. Can you link these things? 
  • Reply 2 of 8
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,728member
    Apple lay off around 200 employees related to an Apple Car project. And one of them was sued for stealing secrets. Can you link these things? 
    You lost me, this guy is working at Apple still.  Oh wait, you don't mean Krantz.
    edited August 2023 watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 8
    darkvaderdarkvader Posts: 1,146member
    It's cute that AI still thinks there's ever going to be an Apple car.
    williamlondongrandact73
  • Reply 4 of 8
    waveparticlewaveparticle Posts: 1,497member
    MacPro said:
    Apple lay off around 200 employees related to an Apple Car project. And one of them was sued for stealing secrets. Can you link these things? 
    You lost me, this guy is working at Apple still.  Oh wait, you don't mean Krantz.
    Read this "Project Titan has had a problem holding on to leadership in recent years. One executive even left the Apple Car project after only six months on the job."
    williamlondon
  • Reply 5 of 8
    mayflymayfly Posts: 385member
    An SEC investigation into a SPAC illegally misrepresenting their purpose to investors? Hmm, sounds familiar...
    edited August 2023 welshdogFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 6 of 8
    cg27cg27 Posts: 213member
    darkvader said:
    It's cute that AI still thinks there's ever going to be an Apple car.
    Reluctantly have to agree, Tesla is so far ahead of everyone it’ll be difficult to catch up let alone surpass.  Unless of course some company leapfrog’s with a cost effective Solid State Battery (Toyota?).
    mayflywilliamlondon
  • Reply 7 of 8
    mayflymayfly Posts: 385member
    cg27 said:
    darkvader said:
    It's cute that AI still thinks there's ever going to be an Apple car.
    Reluctantly have to agree, Tesla is so far ahead of everyone it’ll be difficult to catch up let alone surpass.  Unless of course some company leapfrog’s with a cost effective Solid State Battery (Toyota?).
    That for sure!
    Here's my take on EV vehicles: range, charging time, buy-in price. Pick two.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    mayflymayfly Posts: 385member
    Hopefully, Tim Cook is smart enough to look at the graveyard of great American automakers like Packard, Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg and Studebaker, and literally hundreds more, and realize that making some new must-have technology that the Big Three are forced to adopt to maintain their customer loyalty is smarter than a startup. And charge them up the wazoo for it!
    edited August 2023 byronl
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