The American businessman sees his little entrepreneurial adventure come to an end. The former CEO of Nikola Corporation has just been sentenced to prison following a three-year investigation.
Nikola Corporation, or the company that already saw itself competing with Tesla by selling electric pickups and hydrogen trucks. However, doubt had long hovered over the veracity of the prototypes presented and the company’s various publicity stunts. It has been a few years since the company was really taken seriously, its director having been accused multiple times of various frauds and deception; this despite its agreement with General Motors. The company grew rapidly, but finally collapsed under the weight of the accusations.
A spectacular rise for an equally spectacular fall
Trevor Milton, who has headed the Nikola company since 2015, certainly saw himself reaching the heights of the electric transport sector thanks to his various hydrogen truck projects. Originally from Salt Lake City, the company began to become known to the public around 2020, when it merged with VectoIQ Acquisition Corporation. A merger which allowed him to list his new entity on the stock market, which saw its valuation soar up to 20 billion dollars. All this without any vehicle delivery.
A more than dazzling success, propelled by other important partnerships. But everything quickly turned into a nightmare, when on September 10, 2020, Hindenburg Research published a damning report on Nikola. The company would be a complete fraud. Other entities have looked into the issue such as Financial Times and the Research Enquirer. When the company demonstrated its autonomous truck driving alone on a road, it actually turned out that it was on a gentle slope, and that the vehicle was simply coasting. Revelations which caused the company’s shares to fall by 36%. In 2021, the American authorities filed a complaint against him, which triggered the start of the investigation.
Lies with major consequences
The investigation eventually revealed that Milton had fabricated most aspects of his business from scratch, the trucks were not the only empty shells. Its priority targets recently were, as luck would have it, non-professional investors. The judge ruling on the case, Edgardo Ramos said: “ You used your considerable social media skills to promote your business in a materially false manner “.
Trevor Milton was therefore finally sentenced to take charge of the prison. On the other hand, we can say that the court showed relative leniency since the sentence was less severe than expected. Three years of supervised release for fraud, seizure of property and a million dollar fine. It’s not Elon Musk who wants.
Source : BBC
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