Trevor Milton, founder and former CEO of electric truck company Nikola, was sentenced to four years in prison after a jury found him guilty of misleading investors about the company's technology. Milton was also ordered to pay a million-dollar fine.
The federal prosecutor said Milton had lied about Nikola's capabilities, including a claim that he had built his own electric truck, the Nikola One, from “scratch.” They also accused him of staging a video that supposedly showed his Nikola One semi-truck driving under its own power when he was actually rolling down a hill.
During the sentencing hearing, Milton made several strange statements. He claimed that his resignation from Nikola was not due to the fraud allegations but because his wife had an illness. He also said that he was a cherokee room and became emotional when recounting the “ethnic cleansing” against the tribe.
The federal prosecutor said Milton had lied about Nikola's capabilities.
Founded in 2015, Nikola took a unique position in the bustling electric vehicle space by saying it would make large, zero-emission trucks using hydrogen fuel cell technology. The company scored a big win in 2020 when General Motors announced plans to take an 11 percent equity stake. The automaker also said it would help Nikola design and manufacture its hydrogen fuel cell and battery electric vehicles, including the Badger pickup truck.
But less than a week later, short-selling firm Hindenburg Research published an explosive report accusing Nikola of fraud, including video showing the truck rolling down a hill. The report set off a chain reaction that resulted in Milton's resignation as chairman and CEO and his eventual arrest.
In addition to setting up the video, Milton was accused of falsely claiming to produce his own hydrogen fuels at below-market prices and obtaining “billions and billions and billions and billions” of dollars in orders. of committed trucks.
