Nikola Founder Asks Judge to Block Evidence of ‘Wealth’, ‘Lifestyle’ in Fraud Case | Investing News
(Reuters) – Trevor Milton, the billionaire founder and former main executive of Nikola Corp has questioned a federal judge to block proof relevant to his “wealth, life style or paying habits” at his demo for fraud expenses.
A court docket submitting from Monday showed that Milton’s lawyers told U.S. District Decide Edgardo Ramos that information of Milton’s prosperity ended up “unfairly prejudicial” and could mislead the jury.
U.S. prosecutors have criminally billed Milton with defrauding investors by lying to them about Nikola, the Phoenix-based electric truck maker he started in 2014.
Prosecutors say he wrongly claimed that Nikola experienced crafted an electrical- and hydrogen-run pickup from the “floor up”, produced batteries he understood the firm was acquiring somewhere else, and that the corporation was creating progress on a truck prototype he realized did not get the job done.
Milton also focused retail traders with a public relations blitz of social media posts as effectively as television and podcast interviews to generate up Nikola’s stock value, authorities alleged.
His lawyers on Monday also submitted to exclude evidence of retail investors’ conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, indicating all those situation did not influence whether or not Milton dedicated securities or wire fraud.
Nikola declined to comment on Milton’s court submitting.
Judge Ramos in November past year had turned down Milton’s declare that he should really not have been indicted https://www.reuters.com/business enterprise/autos-transportation/us-prices-nikola-founder-trevor-milton-with-lying-investors-2021-07-29 in New York for securities and wire fraud since his alleged lies had been in Arizona and Utah, where he life, and the case belonged there if at all.
The company’s share value has fallen more than 90% from its June 2020 document large.
(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru Enhancing by Vinay Dwivedi)
Copyright 2022 Thomson Reuters.