EV startup Canoo has lost co-founder and chief technology officer Sohel Merchant and is moving its operations out of Los Angeles, according to two reports from TechCrunch this week, citing unnamed sources.

Canoo wrote in a quarterly SEC filing on August 14th that it was “permanently” dropping its headcount as part of a reorganization plan for its Torrance, California facility, and offering to move “approximately 137” of 194 employees from there to either Oklahoma or Texas. Then, earlier this week, it told employees during a company meeting that it was shutting down its LA office, TechCrunch wrote on Thursday.