WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Trevor Milton, the founder and former chairman and CEO of electric heavy truck maker Nikola, was convicted of securites fraud by a federal jury in New York.
The jury found Milton guilty in three of four counts of fraud related to false statements he made to drive up the value of Nikola's stock.
Milton was charged with two counts of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Milton faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all four counts.
Milton had founded Nikola in his basement in 2015 and took the company public in 2020 at a valuation of $3.3 billion, despite his company not selling even a single truck.
Milton resigned from Nikola in September 2020 after a short seller report alleged he made a litany of misrepresentations about the company.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan had alleged that Milton lied about 'nearly all aspects of the business'.
'On the backs of those innocent investors taken in by his lies, he became a billionaire virtually overnight,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos said in his opening statement in September.
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