In September 2020, short-seller Hindenburg Research launched a report accusing Nikola of deceptive traders with an “intricate fraud.” The EV model refuted these allegations, labeling them as false and deceptive. Back then, Nikola was riding high on top of a partnership with GM that gave it an 11% stake within the upstart valued at roughly $2 billion. The firm was additionally focused a couple of 2018 demonstration to traders, the place a Nikola One semi was proven “in motion,” nevertheless it was later found that the automobile was not self-propelled and was as a substitute shifting downhill. Milton was concurrently accused and subsequently charged over deceptive claims relating to the corporate’s progress and touchdown investments price a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.

He was additionally lambasted for falsely claiming that the corporate had developed an in-house manufacturing capability for hydrogen gasoline tech at charges under the present market ranges and that it acquired billions of {dollars} in funding for a similar. General Motors quickly backed out of its fairness cope with Nikola, a number of initiatives have been scaled down, and impressive plans reminiscent of producing an electrical motorboat have been additionally placed on ice. In October 2023, freshly unearthed regulatory paperwork revealed that Milton was instructed to pay the corporate $165 million in damages. A month later, Milton urged a federal court docket ought to keep away from jail and as a substitute be placed on probation, claiming that his previous actions had no “ill will.”