Nikola: with the accusations against the founder, the myth of electric heavy transport collapses
Nikola founder Trevor Milton pleaded not guilty to fraud in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday afternoon after federal prosecutors accused him of maliciously misleading investors about start-up capabilities and technologies. of electric vehicles.
Miton, who stepped down as president in September, was released on a modest $ 100 million bond secured against two of his $ 40 million worth of Utah properties. He was prevented from contacting investors and the court issued travel restrictions. It was his first major appearance since he stepped down from the company and deleted his social media accounts.
A federal grand jury has charged Milton with three counts of criminal fraud for lying about "almost every aspect of the business" to support the sales of shares in the electric vehicle start-up, according to an indictment unveiled Thursday.
His legal team, led by Brad Bondi, said Milton was "wrongfully accused following a patchy and incompetent investigation" and that justice will not be done until cleared, according to an emailed statement on Thursday. .
Read the full statement from Milton's legal team:
Trevor Milton is innocent; this is a new low in the government's efforts to criminalize legal business conduct. Any executive in America should be horrified.
Trevor Milton is an entrepreneur who had a long-term vision of helping the environment by cutting carbon emissions in the transportation sector.
Mr. Milton was wrongfully accused following a flawed and incomplete investigation in which the government ignored critical evidence and did not interview leading witnesses.
Of course it will not be easy for Miton's lawyers to stand up to the accusation of fraud as his electric truck moved… with the help of gravity, not the much-vaunted hydrogen-cell electric motor.
With Tesla not introducing its own production heavy vehicle before the end of 2022, we are still a long way from having an electric heavy transport. For now, there are only expensive illusions.
Curiously, Nikola's shares, although they went down, did not reach the minimum ever …
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The article Nikola: with the accusations against the founder the myth of electric heavy transport collapses comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/nikola-con-le-accuse-al-fondatore-crolla-il-mito-del-trasporto-pesante-elettrico/ on Fri, 30 Jul 2021 07:00:22 +0000.