Faraday Future, the struggling tech startup that seeks to build autonomous, electric vehicles is bringing on a Deutsche Bank and BMW veteran to, among other things, help the company sort out its finances.
Faraday announced Stefan Krause's hiring in a press release this week.
Krause will serve as global chief financial officer for Faraday Future, taking charge of the company's corporate finance division and handling investor relations and capital management — areas in which Faraday has struggled in the last year.
The Southern California-based upstart has been plagued with executive departures and dwindling bank accounts in recent months, according to several current and former employees previously interviewed by Business Insider. The turmoil led to lots of bad press for Faraday ahead of its appearance at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.
The event unfolded under the shadow of multimillion dollar lawsuits from some of Faraday's suppliers and led to an embarrassing moment for company honchos who were showcasing their first vehicle, the FF91.
Current and former employees told Busines Insider at the time that Faraday's finances were on the brink."If CES doesn’t bring in fresh investors, it’s over between February and May," one source close to the company said.
Jia Yueting, Faraday's only publicly known investor, is a tech billionaire who heads the Chinese electronics company LeEco. Jia has spoken of his own money problems as recently as November.
Some former employees have attributed portions of Faraday's money troubles to the company's previous chief financial officer, Chaoying Deng. Chaoying remains at Faraday as the director of finance. She was the company's first CEO of record and also acted as the company's president and treasurer for a time. Sources close to the company suggested to Business Insider previously that Faraday's books fell into disarray under her leadership.
A Faraday Future spokesperson told Business Insider on Friday that Chaoying would now report to Krause.
Krause was once a target of a tax-evasion investigation in the early 2010s. He was one of several Deutsche Bank executives who came under scrutiny amid allegations involving people suspected of trying to avoid sales tax on the trading of carbon tax certificates, The New York Times reported in 2012.
Law-enforcement officials raided Deutsche Bank offices during the inquiry. Krause and other executives who were being investigated at the time denied any wrongdoing.
Faraday Future touted Krause's background in corporate fundraising. He is credited with helping raise $22 billion in capital during his time at Deutsche Bank between 2008 and 2015.
Fundraising is an important next-step for Faraday Future as it tries to court new sources of cash to fund its many initiatives. Faraday's stalled factory project awaits a restart in North Las Vegas, Nevada, the FF91 needs to be readied for production, and, importantly, Faraday's bills need to be paid.
