Trevor Milton, founder and former CEO of Nikola Motors, was found guilty of defrauding investors and making false statements to increase the value of Nikola Motors in a lawsuit in federal court.
Trevor Milton faces up to 20 years in prison
Milton was charged with two counts of securities fraud and two counts of electronic fraud, all related to his work while Nikola’s CEO. Convicted of one count of securities fraud and two counts of electronic fraud, Milton was acquitted of one count of securities fraud.
Milton, however, faces up to 20 years in prison, whose sentence was suspended until January 27. Prosecutors said Milton, 40, had lured investors over allegations that Nikola was close to building long-haul trucks that could run emission-free on cheap hydrogen, as well as making false statements about the products and technologies he had accessed.
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Damien Williams, Attorney General for the Southern District of New York, said:Trevor Milton has repeatedly lied to Nikola’s investors. This is scam, plain and clear” said. US District Judge Edgardo Ramos, who presided over the hearing, allowed Mr Milton to be released on a $100 million bail until his conviction in January.
Milton’s lawyers argued that Milton had no intention of defrauding anyone and that his statements were not responsible for the drop in Nikola’s stock. “We respect the decision, but we will continue to fight,” Marc Mukasey, Trevor Milton’s attorney, said as he left the court.
Milton split from Nikola in 2020
Trevor Milton, Nikola’s largest shareholder, founded the company in 2009. The company went public in 2014. Things started to get really interesting when Milton became a billionaire by taking Nikola public through a SPAC merger, after several serious allegations about the company’s rapid rise.
After Hindenburg Research made several claims exposing the deception by Nikola and Milton, Nikola’s stock plunged sharply. Trevor Milton left Nikola in 2020 when fraud allegations began to surface.
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