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Fraud: Nikola chief Trevor Milton faces 20 years in prison

The Nikola company is currently making it clearer than almost any other that lies have short legs. A US court has found the once-hyped manufacturer of large-format electric trucks guilty in a trial. The countless frauds committed by company founder Trevor Milton may now land him behind bars. Up to 20 years imprisonment are possible.

Deep fall of the E-Trucks from the USA

The negative headlines for U.S. start-ups in the field of electric mobility are not abating. After Rivian announced in August that it had made billions of dollars in losses, the mood among enthusiasts in the e-truck sector had already dimmed considerably. This was particularly surprising given that the U.S. manufacturer of large-format pickups with electric motors had made a furiating stock market launch six months earlier. The young company was even said to be able to become the new Tesla.

Truck from Nikola at the 2022 IAA Transportation Motor Show in Hanover.

But while Rivian took its deep fall because of global supply chain issues, Nikola has a very different reason behind it. What Trevor Milton did to his clientele, but also to investors, can hardly be surpassed in audacity. The 40-year-old entrepreneur attracted interested investors primarily by means of a construct of lies. This should bring the founder of the once by industry specialists in highest praise Start Up a place in the list of the 100 richest people in the world.

Multiple false claims by Milton

A look at the list of Trevor Milton’s frauds is long. First and foremost, the company owner is said to have used embellished presentations to chase investors. Nikola’s vehicles were supposed to revolutionize the field of vehicles powered by electric motors, natural gas or hydrogen. This goal was supposedly not only to be achieved by designing powerful and durable vehicle models. On top of that, Trevor Milton had stated that he wanted to build an extensive network of hydrogen filling stations. However, none of the alleged 364 filling stations, which were supposed to offer valuable hydrogen far more cheaply than conventional suppliers, saw the light of day.

https://youtu.be/wLidTCqAAtY

In theory, however, this sounded wonderful together with batteries from own production and about 800 own workshops. The videos presented then let willing investors drop their jaws and, as it were, open their wallets. And so it came as it had to come – the IPO came. With this, Trevor Milton then showed himself selfless and assigned himself a symbolic salary of only one dollar. But the reality was different. He is said to have secured stock options and for this reason was naturally very interested in a good stock market price. The plan worked. In the meantime, Nikola was worth 34 billion US dollars – more than the US brand par excellence – Ford. In view of the fact that the start-up has not sold a single vehicle, this is quite remarkable.

Possible up to 20 years imprisonment

The erected construct of lies, which was maintained over time, for example, even with allegedly 14,000 binding orders and a range of 700 miles, has now collapsed. It is therefore not surprising that the court found the young entrepreneur guilty of securities fraud. Now Milton faces up to 20 years in prison for his media misstatements and fraud. According to a report in the news portal Bloomberg, the actual sentence is not to be announced until January 27, 2023. Milton himself is not aware of any guilt to this day. He still maintains that he has done nothing wrong. We are curious to see whether the dazzling entrepreneur will somehow manage to pull his head out of the noose of justice after all. That would not be new. After all, last year he was able to buy his way out of a fine imposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by paying a sum in the hundreds of millions.

Simon Lüthje

I am co-founder of this blog and am very interested in everything that has to do with technology, but I also like to play games. I was born in Hamburg, but now I live in Bad Segeberg.

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The Nikola company is currently making it clearer than almost any other that lies have short legs. A US court has found the once-hyped manufacturer of large-format electric trucks guilty in a trial. The countless frauds committed by company founder Trevor Milton may now land him behind bars. Up to 20 years imprisonment are possible. … (Weiterlesen...)

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