By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) -The former chief financial officer of View must face U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims he negligently allowed the maker of “smart windows” to understate the cost of replacing defective windows, a federal judge ruled.
In a Monday night decision, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman in San Jose, California, rejected ex-CFO Vidul Prakash’s claim the SEC could not in its civil case prove his actions violated antifraud and other provisions of federal securities laws.
Prakash’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours on Tuesday.
View went public in March 2021 through a $1.6 billion merger with a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed special-purpose acquisition company. The Milpitas, California-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2024 and agreed to go private.
The SEC case announced in July 2023 arose from a defective sealing component in View’s smart windows, whose tinted panes adjust with the sun and are often used in office buildings.
View allegedly understated window-related liabilities by $25 million in 2019 and $28 million in 2020 by not disclosing shipping and installation costs, as well as manufacturing costs.
Prakash said the SEC could not show he knew or should have known View would cover those costs.
But in a 30-page decision, Freeman said a reasonable jury could find that Prakash breached his duty of care, and his failure to tell View’s accountants what the company was doing was a “proximate cause” of the alleged understatement.
In November 2021, View replaced Prakash as CFO and decided to restate more than two years of financials.
It settled with the SEC without admitting wrongdoing and was not fined, reflecting its cooperation.
The case is SEC v. Prakash, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 23-03300.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New YorkEditing by Rod Nickel)
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