A Company That Can't Seem to Stay Out of Trouble
Faraday Future has long been one of Silicon Valley's most troubled EV bets — a company that promised to out-Tesla Tesla, burned through billions, and has spent years teetering on the edge of collapse. Now, new reporting from TechCrunch reveals that during one of its most vulnerable periods, the company was making millions in payments to a business tied directly to its own founder.
According to the report, Faraday Future paid approximately $7.5 million to a company linked to Jia Yueting — the Chinese billionaire and Faraday Future co-founder who has been living in the United States under bankruptcy protection since 2019, shielded from Chinese creditors. The payments were made while the company was already under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC Investigation
The SEC probe, which spanned four years, scrutinized Faraday Future's financial disclosures and corporate governance. The investigation was ultimately closed in March without enforcement action — but the payments to a Jia-linked entity raise questions about the company's internal controls and whose interests were being served.
Jia Yueting has been a controversial figure since Faraday Future's earliest days. He fled China in 2017 amid mounting debts estimated at over $3 billion USD, later filing for personal bankruptcy in the U.S. Despite his legal and financial troubles, he retained significant influence over Faraday Future, a dynamic that has repeatedly alarmed shareholders and governance watchdogs.
Still Trying to Sell Cars
Faraday Future has technically delivered vehicles — its FF 91 luxury EV was finally handed to a small number of customers in 2023 after years of delays and broken promises. But production numbers have remained tiny, the company's stock has cratered, and it has repeatedly warned investors about its ability to continue as a going concern.
The $7.5 million in payments to a Jia-connected company — even as Faraday Future struggled to fund basic operations — adds another layer of concern for the investors and shareholders who have backed the company through years of turbulence.
A Cautionary Tale for EV Investors
Faraday Future's story has become something of a cautionary tale in the EV industry. At its peak, the company attracted hundreds of millions in investment and generated genuine excitement with splashy concept cars and bold claims about performance. Its planned factory in Nevada was supposed to rival Tesla's Gigafactory.
Instead, the company has struggled with executive turnover, governance scandals, SEC scrutiny, and an inability to scale production. The revelation of payments to a founder-linked entity — made during a regulatory investigation — fits an all-too-familiar pattern.
Whether the SEC's decision to close its investigation without action signals a clean bill of health or simply a lack of sufficient evidence remains unclear. What is clear is that Faraday Future continues to be a company where the gap between its ambitions and its reality remains as wide as ever.
Source: TechCrunch
