By Jody Godoy
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A jury began deliberating Friday in the criminal case against Nikola Corp founder Trevor Milton, weighing allegations that he lied to investors about the electric vehicle company’s technology.
During the trial in federal court in Manhattan, prosecutors depicted Milton, 40, as a “con man” who sought to deceive investors about the electric- and hydrogen-powered truck maker’s technology starting in November 2019.
Milton, of Oakley, Utah, was indicted in July 2021 and faces two counts of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Milton left Nikola in September 2020 after a report by short seller Hindenburg Research called the company a “fraud.”
Prosecutors accused Milton of using social media and interviews on television, podcasts and in print to make false and misleading claims about Nikola’s trucks and technology.
They said Milton’s improper statements included that Nikola built an electric- and hydrogen-powered “Badger” pickup from the “ground up,” developed batteries in-house that he knew it was purchasing elsewhere and had early success in creating a “Nikola One” semi-truck he knew did not work.
Milton’s statements about Nikola came as the company joined the mounting number of tech and EV companies going public through special purpose acquisition vehicles or SPACs. He also was accused of defrauding the seller of a Utah ranch, who accepted Nikola stock options as part of the purchase price based on Milton’s claims about the company.
The defense and the prosecution delivered closing arguments to the jury on Thursday in a trial that began on Sept. 13. The prosecution said Milton was obsessed with the company’s stock price and made the statements to inflate it and his own net worth. The defense said prosecutors had distorted Milton’s statements about Nikola’s plans to shake up the automotive industry.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
