Jeffrey Epstein and Canoo? What?
It’s the story reported by TechCrunch.
Canoo had its manufacturing plant in Oklahoma City until it finally shut down operations after filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy in January of last year. Now comes the TechCrunch story that a Prince Andrew advisor pitched Jeffrey Epstein on investing in the EV industry, including Canoo.
David Stern, described as “a mysterious businessman and close advisor to former Prince Andrew”, saw an opportunity to break the logjam about funding for EV manufacturers: bring in Jeffrey Epstein.
As TechCrunch reported, “Ford will likely be lead in $400m Series D in Lucid. Big strategic move,” Stern wrote to Epstein in emails released last week as part of the Department of Justice’s latest disclosure of 3 million documents related to Epstein. Jia “has massive cash issues” at Faraday, he wrote, and needs to “sell now to make payroll for his other business.”
The newly-released documents also indicated similar pitches were made to invest in Canoo. The documents also showed Epstein said in a 2018 message included in the Justice Department’s files that he had no “direct” or “indirect” interest in Canoo.
As TechCrunch reported, Stern made connections with wealthy Chinese business men, including Li Botan — the son-in-law of the fourth-most senior leader in China under Xi Jinping’s predecessor Hu Jintao. (Li would eventually go on to become a founding investor in Canoo with Stern.)
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