Lux Optics co-founder Sebastiaan de With created headlines when he joined Apple in late January. The company was behind Halide, one of the most popular photography apps for the iPhone, which gained a cult following for its robust pro-level controls.
Apple was apparently a huge enough fan that it tested to acquire the developer last summer. Those talks never bore fruit, and eventually the company simply hired de With. At the time, it was widely believed that Apple had poached him from Lux. But new allegations from a lawsuit filed by co-founder Ben Sandofsky in the California Superior Court of Santa Cruz claim de With was fired for financial misconduct in December of 2025.
According to The Information, the suit “accapplys de With of improperly applying more than $150,000 in Lux corporate funds to pay for personal expenses,” as well as “taking Lux source code and confidential material with him when he joined Apple.”
An attorney for de With denied those claims and declared that “The attempt to insert Apple into this dispute appears designed to create leverage and attract attention.“
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