Former CEO and founder of Nikola Motors Trevor Milton has been found guilty on three of four counts of fraud in federal court today. Milton was charged with two counts of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud, pertaining to statements he made while he was acting chairman and CEO of Nikola.
Although Nikola Corporation, fka Nikola Motor Company, has nothing to do with the news of today’s conviction, it must be mentioned because of the pivotal role it plays in the Trevor Milton saga that has led to his guilty verdicts.
Before going public, the original iteration of the ZEV startup founded by Milton came out swinging, promising several hydrogen-fueled, Class 8 semi trucks to battle the likes of Tesla. The company also introduced a hydrogen-electric pickup truck called that Badger that would be produced with the help of GM.
Things truly started to get “interesting” when then Milton became a billionaire by taking Nikola public through a SPAC merger, following several bold claims about the company’s tremendous progress, causing its stock to hockey stick up to over $90 per share.
However, the Nikola cash rocket was quickly grounded after a report from notorious short-seller Hindenburg Research made several allegations that exposed deception by Nikola and Milton. It included several claims corroborated in previous reports from both Electrek and Bloomberg. Nikola issued a response to those claims, but the statement lacked any rebuttal of the main allegations of deception by...
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