(Reuters) – The former chief executive of electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors Corp sold $13.5 million worth of shares in the electric vehicle startup on Feb. 28, according to a regulatory filing – a day before General Motors Co disclosed it had sold its stake in the company.
Steve Burns sold nearly 5.3 million shares in Lordstown on Monday, according to a Wednesday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a day before GM said it had sold 7.5 million Lordstown shares in a series of sales in the fourth quarter.
Lordstown declined to comment. Two lawyers for Burns did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Burns could not be reached for comment.
Burns, who was at the helm of Lordstown from its founding in 2018 until he resigned in June 2021, still remains by far the company’s largest shareholder, according to Refinitiv data.
After Monday’s sale of nearly 5.3 million shares, Burns still owns nearly 38 million shares in Lordstown, worth roughly $93 million at Wednesday’s trading price.
Burns had sold 3.2 million Lordstown shares in November, at the time worth around $18.8 million.
He resigned as CEO in June following an internal investigation into claims made by short-seller Hindenburg Research, which alleged Lordstown has misled investors about demand for its vehicles and the company’s production capabilities.
Lordstown subsequently acknowledged it had overstated the quality of pre-orders for the company’s electric trucks, but rejected as false Hindenburg’s accusations it had overstated the viability of its technology and misled investors about production plans.
Lordstown shares have dropped more than 80% since the Hindenburg report in last March.
(Reporting by Tina Bellon in Austin, Texas; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
