(Yicai Global) March 21 -- Faraday Future, the American electric carmaker led by beleaguered Chinese entrepreneur Jia Yueting, has sold its headquarters building for USD40 million.

The sale to New York real estate company Atlas Capital went through on March 8, a person close to the company told Chinese state media The Paper.

Atlas Capital then leased the property back to FF after the deal, US-based tech media The Verge reported yesterday. The company also has the optional right to repurchase the property, under the sales contract.

FF bought the two-building headquarters about 15 miles from downtown Los Angeles in 2014 for USD13.2 million.

The sale follows a falling out with main investor Evergrande Group, China's second-largest developer, which backed out of a USD2 billion investment deal at last year's end.

On the Block

This is also not the first time the financially troubled firm has tried to flog its fixed assets. It offered to sell 900 acres of land it owns in North Las Vegas, Nevada, for USD40 million last week.

It bought the lot industrial park for USD29 million in 2015, planning to plow in USD1 billion to build a plant there, but funding for the project never materialized and it later leased an existing factory in Hanford, California, but retained the Nevada plot.

The company is still mired in a financial tarpit. Most employees are furloughed without pay and founding team members have left.

It also faces a barrage of creditors' claims. At least 11 companies have filed lawsuits against it for debts totaling USD80 million.

A federal court in California froze Jia's ownership stake in the e-automaker in December on the application of Chinese creditors.   

Jia is also persona non grata in his native land. Notorious for stiffing those he owes, China has blacklisted him as a deadbeat debtor and a court there has frozen his assets and ordered him home to face the music, but to no avail.

Editor: Ben Armour