Summary of Nikola Founder’s FRAUD TRIAL: Facing 25 YEARS In Prison

00:00:00 - 00:45:00

Trevor Milton, the founder of Nikola, is on trial for securities fraud. Prosecutors allege that he misled investors about the company's technology and its future prospects. Milton has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The trial is ongoing.

• 00:00:00 Trevor Milton is on trial for securities fraud, and his lawyer argued that he was like a parent talking to a five-year-old about a Harvard admission. Trevor claimed that Nikola was a gravy train, and Molly if you will why would you launch another product when you already had a successful one? Trevor's interview techniques were described as like a person "peering through a keyhole" and his statements about Nikola were described as "theranos level fraud." Jason Kalkanus from the "This Week in Startups" podcast interviewed Trevor months prior to the fraud being discovered, and the interview was described as "low-key Savage bait."
• 00:05:00 The trial of Nikola founder Trevor Milton has begun, with prosecutors alleging that he lied about the technology the company had developed and the future of its contracts. Milton has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
• 00:10:00 The trial of Nikola founder Trevor Milton is underway, and the defense is arguing that the company wasn't actually a scam, but was instead a technology that was still in development. The prosecutor is trying to argue that Trevor was lying to investors and was only interested in driving up the stock price.
• 00:15:00 Nikola founder Trevor Milton is on trial for fraud, with the company estimated to have lost 30-40 billion dollars. Jason Kalkennis covers the story in an interview with Milton from earlier this year.
• 00:20:00 Nikola Founder's trial is an expose on Nikola founder Tyler Wagner's alleged fraud. Wagner is accused of defrauding investors out of millions of dollars, claiming his company, Nikola, had developed a better, cheaper way to produce hydrogen fuel. However, Nikola has no revenue and has only released one product, the semi truck. Wagner claims he is trying to financialize his business, and touch the average consumer, in order to create a future worth trillions of dollars.
• 00:25:00 Nikola Founder, Nicholas Calcanus, is on trial for fraud charges stemming from his company’s trucks and technology. Prosecutors allege that he lied to investors, causing the stock price to rise and making him a billionaire. He has pleaded not guilty, and has been Executive Chairman of the company since 2020. Top executives at Nikola have threatened to quit if he does not step down.
• 00:30:00 The video discusses the trial of Nikola Founder Trevor Milton, who is accused of fraudulently misleading investors about the company's progress and prospects. According to court testimony, Russell, the current CEO of Nikola, plans to retire on January 1st and claims that he did not agree to become CEO until after Milton agreed to step down. Russell also claims that any statements he made in public were the equivalent of a press release or Securities filing. The trial is set to continue in March.
• 00:35:00 Nikola Founder's trial is focused on whether the company was built on fraudulent foundations, with the founder's own claims of being Steve Jobs and Elon Musk being refuted by others. The company's name and founder's background are both red flags, indicating that this may not have been a legitimate business.
• 00:40:00 The video discusses Nikola Founder's FRAUD TRIAL, in which he is charged with 25 years in prison for a scam that resulted in many people losing their money. Jason and Molly disagree on whether Nikola is worse than Facebook, which Jason owns and Molly does not.
• 00:45:00 In this video, Stephen Mark Ryan covers the Trevor Milton (Nikola Founder) fraud trial. Ryan notes that Milton's actions - including exaggerating the company's progress and pumping up the stock price - were clearly designed to enrich himself, not to help Nikola execute on its plants. Ryan also notes that Milton has been accused of other wrongdoing, including selling his own shares during the company's back process and lying to investors.