Ex-CFO of ‘smart window’ maker View settles with US SEC

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(Reuters) -The former chief financial officer of View settled a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit claiming he negligently allowed the company to understate the cost of replacing defective “smart windows.”

Lawyers for Vidul Prakash and the SEC reached an agreement in principle to end the civil case, subject to approval by SEC commissioners, according to a Wednesday filing in San Jose, California, federal court.  Both sides want the case put on hold during the approval process.

An SEC spokesperson declined to comment. Prakash’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The settlement was disclosed three weeks after U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman rejected Prakash’s claim that the SEC could not prove he violated antifraud and other provisions of federal securities laws.

Smart windows have tinted panes that adjust with the sun, and are common in office buildings.

The SEC said View understated window-related liabilities stemming from a defective sealing component by $53 million in 2019 and 2020, by not disclosing shipping, installation and manufacturing costs.

Prakash said the SEC could not show he knew or should have known View would cover those costs.

View went public through a $1.6 billion merger with a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed special purpose acquisition company in March 2021. It decided to restate more than two years of financials and replace Prakash as CFO eight months later.

The Milpitas, California-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2024 and agreed to go private.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New YorkEditing by Rod Nickel)