Milton Trevor (Trevor Milton)

Milton Trevor (Trevor Milton)

Biography

2020: Leaving Nikola Motors

On September 20, 2020, the American manufacturer of electric trucks Nikola Motors announced the departure from the company of its founder and chairman of the board of directors Trevor Milton. His place was taken by the former vice president of the General Motors concern (he previously invested in Nikola) Stephen Girsky.

Milton's firing comes after an investigation into Nikola Motors launched by the US authorities. It was launched after a complaint from Hindenburg Research, which sells securities without coverage. She claims that Nikola management misled investors by citing "dozens" of false claims about technological developments in its reports in order to attract other automotive manufacturers to cooperate.

Trevor Milton turned the hoax into a public company worth $20 billion and signed partnership agreements with some leading automakers in a futile attempt to catch up with Tesla, Hindenburg Research said in a statement.

It also says that the revolutionary battery technology that Nikola promised to acquire from an unknown company never existed. Experts also questioned the reality of large pre-orders for Nikola trucks and the self-development of key parts.

Hindenburg Research also reproached Nikola for the following fraud: in 2018, a startup showed a video of a Nikola One truck allegedly on hydrogen fuel, but it turned out that it was simply rolled off a hill. The company itself admitted this lie.

Trevor Milton himself wrote on his Twitter blog that he intends to "defend himself against false accusations made by ill-wishers."

The focus should be on the company and its goal of changing the world, not my identity, "he wrote.

After the founder left the company, Nikola shares fell by about a third.^[1]

2021: Prosecutors' charges

In July 2021, Trevor Milton was accused by prosecutors of perjury to investors in an electric car startup.

Among Milton's false and misleading statements, according to the indictment:

• That the company had a "fully functioning" prototype of the Nikola One semi-truck, despite Milton knowing that the prototype was inoperable.

• That Nikola produced hydrogen and did so at discounted prices, while "no hydrogen was produced by Nikola, at any price."

• That Nikola developed batteries and other important components in-house, while they bought them from third parties.

2023: Sentence - 4 years in prison for defrauding investors

On December 18, 2023, US District Judge Edgar Ramos announced the verdict against Trevor Milton, founder and former chairman of the board of directors of electric car maker Nikola, in Manhattan federal court. He was sentenced to four years in prison for defrauding investors.

In mid-October 2022, a jury found Milton guilty of fraud in connection with false claims about the company's developments and technologies. At the same time, federal prosecutors in a Manhattan court proved Milton's guilt in making a number of deliberately false statements that misled investors. In particular, as stated in the case file, the founder of Nikola was cunning when he said that the company created its electric pickup truck from scratch. In addition, Milton lied about the batteries, stating that they were designed in-house, when in fact these modules were purchased from a third-party supplier. And when demonstrating the prototype of the Nikola One electric car, Milton passed it off as fully operational, although it was not such.

Trevor Milton

Prosecutors instructed that Milton should be sentenced to up to 11 years in prison, but in fact the verdict was not so harsh. Moreover, the founder of Nikola will be able to remain free on bail while appealing the verdict.

Judge Ramos stressed that Milton had been sharing false information with investors, knowing it full well. The founder of Nikola himself says that by his actions he did not "want to harm anyone" and "did not commit the crimes of which he is accused." Milton's lawyers insist their client should receive a suspended sentence as any misrepresentations about the company were a consequence of his "deep-seated optimism."^[2]

Notes