Nikola founder Trevor Milton found guilty over previous fraudulent statements to pump company stock
Former CEO and founder of Nikola Motors Trevor Milton has been found guilty on three of four counts of fraud in federal court today. Milton was charged with two counts of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud, pertaining to statements he made while he was acting chairman and CEO of Nikola.
Although Nikola Corporation, fka Nikola Motor Company, has nothing to do with the news of today’s conviction, it must be mentioned because of the pivotal role it plays in the Trevor Milton saga that has led to his guilty verdicts.
Before going public, the original iteration of the ZEV startup founded by Milton came out swinging, promising several hydrogen-fueled, Class 8 semi trucks to battle the likes of Tesla. The company also introduced a hydrogen-electric pickup truck called that Badger that would be produced with the help of GM.
Things truly started to get “interesting” when then Milton became a billionaire by taking Nikola public through a SPAC merger, following several bold claims about the company’s tremendous progress, causing its stock to hockey stick up to over $90 per share.
However, the Nikola cash rocket was quickly grounded after a report from notorious short-seller Hindenburg Research made several allegations that exposed deception by Nikola and Milton. It included several claims corroborated in previous reports from both Electrek and Bloomberg. Nikola issued a response to those claims, but the statement lacked any rebuttal of the main allegations of deception by the company and Milton.
A key focus of deception in the report was a substantial claim that Nikola staged the first video of its hydrogen truck driving by simply rolling it down a hill. The company eventually admitted to the ruse, albeit without an apology, claiming the deception was “fair game” due to a technicality.
Milton ended up leaving the company shortly thereafter as public pressure started to increase. The US Department of Justice as well as the SEC soon opened separate investigations into Milton’s actions (or lack thereof) and he was inevitably indicted by a grand jury over the aforementioned false claims.
Until today, Milton has been chest deep in litigation on a $100 million bail. Nikola Corporation on the other hand, cooperated with the SEC in order to move on from Milton, paying a $125 million settlement agreement and refocusing on actually delivering electric vehicles, a feat Trevor Milton never accomplished during his sprint to the bank.
Nikola issued a statement in regard to the court’s decision today, stating:
We appreciate the court’s and jury’s attention to this matter. It is important to remember that this trial was related to statements that Mr. Milton made, several years ago. Neither the prosecutors nor Mr. Milton questioned the Company’s promising future and unique ability to positively transform the commercial transportation industry.At Nikola, we are pleased to close this chapter and focus on executing on our strategy and achieving critical milestones. With our vehicles in production and in the hands of customers, along with the energy infrastructure well on its way to support them, the Company is making meaningful contributions toward cleaning up one of the world’s most polluting industries. Nikola and its dedicated team continue to work relentlessly towards real long-term value for its shareholders as we work to create a cleaner and healthier planet for future generations.
Milton still owns Nikola stock, but that is the only tie that currently exists between him and the current version of automaker, which is still working to claw its reputation out of the hole its former CEO dug for it. Milton was facing up to 25 years in prison if he were convicted on all four counts of fraud. Now that he has been found guilty of three, we will need to see what his sentence ends up being.
Electrek’s Take
Oil may no longer be necessary in electric vehicles, but there is still some snake oil going around in the industry. Milton’s counts of guilty should come as no surprise to anyone since much of the evidence against him was quite public and abundant – one of the downsides of publicly pumping your company for profit. Stock is only down 3% aftermarket today, again providing evidence that many saw this coming.
What we may not see coming however is the next Trevor Milton, and it’s a safe bet that person is out there somewhere. We promote a lot of young and upcoming startups at Electrek for the good of EV adoption, and the cold truth of it is that many won’t pan out.
Funding and scale are usually the death weapons, but there are plenty of bad actors out there looking to capitalize off investors excited about EVs, who are looking to invest in a company that will “become the next Tesla.” How many times have we heard that statement, right?
We still believe that charlatans like Milton are the exception and not the rule, but it’s important that he was caught and is held accountable because there are other CEOs or EV startups lurking, waiting for an opportunity to exaggerate their EV tech and make a quick buck off it. Hopefully those frauds will see Milton dressed in orange and think twice.
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No matter how badly a fleet wants to electrify their operations and take advantage of reduced fuel costs and TCO, the fact remains that there are substantial up-front obstacles to commercial EV adoption … or are there? We’ve got fleet financing expert Guy O’Brien here to help walk us through it on today’s fiscally responsible episode of Quick Charge!
This conversation was motivated by the recent uncertainty surrounding EVs and EV infrastructure at the Federal level, and how that turmoil is leading some to believe they should wait to electrify. The truth? There’s never been a better time to make the switch!
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Vermont’s EV adoption has surged by an impressive 41% over the past year, with nearly 18,000 EVs now registered statewide.
According to data from Drive Electric Vermont and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, 17,939 EVs were registered as of January 2025, increasing by 5,185 vehicles. Notably, over 12% of all new cars registered last year in Vermont had a plug. Additionally, used EVs are gaining popularity, accounting for about 15% of new EV registrations.
To put it in perspective, Vermont took six years to register its first 5,000 EVs – and the last 5,000 were added in just the previous year.
Rapid growth, expanding infrastructure
In just two years, Vermont has doubled its fleet of EVs, underscoring residents’ enthusiasm for electric driving. To support this surge, the state now boasts 459 public EV chargers, including 92 DC fast chargers.
The EV mix in Vermont is leaning increasingly toward BEVs, which represent 60% of the state’s EV fleet. The remaining 40% consists of PHEVs, offering flexible fuel options for drivers.
Top EV models in Vermont
Vermont’s favorite EVs in late 2024 included the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Nissan Ariya, Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV, Tesla Model Y, and the Ford F-150 Lightning. These vehicles have appealed to Vermont drivers looking for reliability, performance, and practical features that work well in Vermont’s climate.
Leading the US in reducing emissions
This strong adoption of EVs earned Vermont the top ranking from the Natural Resources Defense Council for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in transportation in 2023. “It’s only getting easier for Vermonters to drive electric,” noted Michele Boomhower, Vermont’s Department of Transportation director. She emphasized the growing variety of EV models, including electric trucks and SUVs with essential features like all-wheel drive, crucial for Vermont’s climate and terrain.
Local dealerships boost EV accessibility
Nucar Automall, an auto dealer in St. Albans, is a great example of local support driving this trend. With help from Efficiency Vermont’s EV dealer incentives – receiving $25,000 through the EV Readiness Incentive program – it recently installed 15 EV chargers for new buyers and existing drivers to use.
“Having these chargers on the lot makes it easier for customers to see just how simple charging an EV can be,” said Ryan Ortiz, general manager at Nucar Automall. Ortiz also pointed out the growing affordability of EVs, thanks to more models becoming available and an increase in pre-owned EVs coming off leases.
Read more: Vermont becomes the first US state to pass a law requiring Big Oil to pay for climate damage
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Elon Musk said Tesla’s self-driving will start contributing to the company’s profits… wait for it… “next year” with “millions of Tesla robotaxis in operation during the second half of the year.”
The claim has become a running joke, as he has made it for the last decade.
During Tesla’s conference call following the release of its Q1 2025 financial results, Musk updated shareholders about Tesla’s self-driving plans, which he again presented as critical to the company’s future.
He made a series of claims, mainly updating timelines about Tesla’s self-driving efforts.
Here are the main comments:
- The CEO reiterated that Tesla will launch its paid autonomous ride-sharing service in Austin in June.
- He did clarify that the fleet will consist of Model Y vehicles and not the new Cybercab.
- Musk also confirmed that Tesla is currently training a fleet specifically for Austin.
- As we previously reported, this internal ride-hailing fleet operating in a geo-fenced with teleoperation assist is a big change from Tesla’s approach.
- Musk said “10 to 20 vehicles” on day one.
- Musk said that Tesla’s self-driving will start contributing positively to the company financially in the middle of next year, and “There will be millions of Teslas operating autonomously in the second half of next year.”
- Musk has literally said something similar every year for the past decade and therefore, it’s hard to take him seriously.
- The CEO claimed that Tesla would get “a 90-something percentage market share” in the autonomous market.
- Musk again claimed that no one else is getting close to Tesla’s capacity, and he criticized Waymo for being too expensive.
- Musk is “confident” that the first Model Y will drive itself from the factory to a customer’s home later this year.
- The CEO said that he is confident that Tesla will deliver “unsupervised full self-driving” in consumer vehicles by the end of the year.
Despite Tesla missing earnings expectations by a wide margin, the company’s stock rose 4% in after-hours trading following Musk’s comments, indicating that shareholders still believe Musk’s self-driving predictions, despite his predictions having been incorrect for almost a decade.
Electrek’s Take
The first point I believe will happen. Tesla needs it to happen. It badly needs a win on the self-driving front.
However, as we previously explained, while Tesla will claim a win in June, it will be with a limited geo-fenced and teleoperation-assisted system that won’t scale to customer vehicles, which is what has been promised for years.
Tesla was even asked how it plans to launch this in Austin in June, when FSD in consumer vehicles currently requires frequent interventions from drivers, and Ashok, Tesla’s head of autonomous driving, admitted his team is currently focused on solving the intervention specifically related to driving in Austin.
With training on specific Austin routes and using teleoperations, Tesla can make that happen, but the road between that and unsupervised self-driving in consumer vehicles and “million of Tesla robotaxis” in the second of next year is a long one.
Basically, other than the first point, I believe Tesla will not achieve any of the other on anything close to the timelines announced by Musk today.
I’m willing to take bets on that.
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