Presidential Pardon and Final Outcome

Support for Swindled comes from Simplyafe For the longest time, I thought home security systems were basically alarms that went off after someone had already broken into your home which always seemed a little late That's why I switched to simimply saafe Their outdoor camera series two uses AI to identify threats on your property and alert U. S. based live agents who can take action before a break in even begins ty percent off your new system at simplySafe dot com slash swwindled That's simppllyafe d. com slash swwindled There's no safe, like simply safe This episode of Swindled may contain graphic descriptions or audio recordings of disturbing events which may not be suitable for all audiences Listener discretion is advised. We are in Lordstown, Ohio. We are inside our six point two million square foot manufacturing plant in our headquarters. Our goal is to build the first electric pickup truck in the United States and likely the world I'm Steve Brurns This is Lord Sound Motors In november twenty eighteen, General Motors announced it would close its six hundred and forty acre assembly plant in Laordestown, Ohio after fifty three years of production. Thousands of workers would lose their jobs, property values would plummet And once again, The Mahoning Valley would be left searching for a new identity Except this time pain was short lived justust six months later. A new hope arrived in the form of an Ohio based electric vehicle startup called Lordstown Motors Corporation. The company purchased the shuttered factory and promised to transform a symbol of industrial decline. into the future of American manufacturing Even G I' bought into the vision and agreed to provide a forty million dollars loan to help jump startart production of Lordgetown's first vehicle, the Endurance. An apttly named all electric pickup truck, the company claimed would be the first of its kind. Endurance is what got us here It can't take us. The all electric endurance. by Lordgetown Motors The endurance was a complete reinvention of the pickup truck itself more efficient. safer. less expensive to maintain. The secret sauce, LMC claimed. was in the wheels. Instead of a conventional drive train with thousands of moving parts, the endndurance had just four hub motors, one built directly into each wheel the same concept used by the E scooters that litter city blocks This design eliminates much of the mechanical complexity found in a gas powered vehicle without compromising performance. but it hadn't been implemented at such a massive scale until now. The motors are in the wheels. So it only has four moving parts. and they gives very good traction, as you can see here as it's We did a little just a little country pull off there and pull to foord across the field an old fashioned country pull off, just like you and your friends used to do in the basement This was even more impressive According to Steve Burns, the founder and visionary behind Lordstown Motors The endurance produced five hundred and fifty horsepower. T toe eight thousand pounds handled like a sports car. It could travel up to two hundred and sixty miles on a single charge. The equivalent, he claimed of about seventy five miles per gallon Best of all, it produced zero tailpipe emissions. Future had arrived Leordgetown announced the endurance would be on the road by november twenty twenty, just eighteen months away It was an ambitious timeline especially for a startup that, according to Burns, intended to manufacture its own batteries and electric motors It was more than enough time for Lordstown Motors to sell its mission to the general public especially with a few influential cheerleaders leading the way Well, the news now heads a little farther east toward Youngstown, where Vice President Mike Pence rolled up in a brand new electric truck in Lorddsstown. Today is a new beginning for Lordds Town, and it's a new day of leadership in electric vehicles in the United States The revival of a recently shuttered automotive plant was exactly the kind of story an incumbent the president likes to point to during an election year promise kept bring American manufacturing backack from the debt. Turning four thousand jobs into a few hundred might not seem like the art of the deal to you or anybody familiar with math, but the administration chalked it up as a win and eagerly embraced the company Vice President Mike Pence attended the unveiling of the endndurance and Lordggetstown Motor CEO Steve Burns was invited to the White House to showcase the prototype. Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is incredible. So this is a vehicle where the essentially the engines, the motors engines are in the wheels there in the wheels in all four wheels. It's Lordstown, Ohio. They make them in Lordstown, Ohio. pre orders poured in Cleanfields Ohio committed to buying five hundred trucks. We got twenty seven thousand orders. Innovations LLC reserved another one thousand. We've already got fifty thousand pre orders. A company called E squared Energy reportedly signed on for fourteen thousand more. So really a big appetite. you've got to fleez this. By the end of twenty twenty. Lordstown Motors claim to have nearly one hundred thousand preorders, representing roughly three quarters of a billion dollars in potential revenue And that didn't even include government and military fleets, the company's primary target market, which weren't eligible to participate in the preordder program. these people are not going to be walking away. They are committed. Ver serious orders one hundred thousand veryer serious orders There was just one minor issue The endurance itself wasn't ready. Production was taking longer than expected, so the first customer deliveries were pushed to September of the following year And Lordstown Motors quickly exhausted the more than five hundred million dollars it had raised from private investors The company needed more money. Unfortunately, There was a shortcut Hi I'm Steve Burns, I'm CEO andounder Lordgetstown Motors Today, I'm very excited to announce we are merging diamond pe Diamond Peak is a special purpose acquisition company And the business combination will be a publicly listed firm. In october twenty twenty, Leordgetstown Motors went public by merging with Diamond Peak Holdings, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC Often called a blank check company. A SPAC has no real business of its own It's simply a publicly traded shell that raises money from investors who trust its managers to find a promising private company to acquire down the road Think of it this way. A traditional initial public offering is like building a proven successful restaurant and then inviting investors to purchase a steak in it. A SPAC, on the other hand, is like asking investors to buy into an empty building with the guarantee that You'll eventually find a great restaurant to move in It's a much riskier proposition, but if that future restaurant turns out to be a hit those early investors stand to profit handsomely since they got in on the ground floor. Once the deal is complete private company inherits the SPC stock market listing and access to a fresh pull of public investor capital because it's merging into an entity that's already publicly traded process is much faster and faces less scrutiny than a traditional IPO following its SPAC merger Lordstown Motors began trading on the NazDeck at eighteen dollars and fifty five cents per share invvestors who believed they were backing a soon to be revolutionary company with hundreds of thousands of pre orers. quickly drove the price to nearly thirty two dollars per share by early February, twenty twenty one. paper, Leordgetestown Motors was now worth roughly five billion dollars and had yet to generate a single dollar of revenue and about a month later became clear that probably never would Tindenburg Research is short selling the Lordstown motor stock. The firm says the company has misled investors in a report released today, focusing on the company's demand and production capabilities on march twelfth, twenty twenty one Hindenberurg Research, a five person activist short selling firm, founded by Nathan Anderson published a roughly twelve thousand word report Titled The Lordstown Motors Mirage After analyzing interviews with former insiders and purported customers, original documents, corporate filings, and public records Endenberg concluded that nearly every major claim made by Lordstown Motors was exaggerated or outright false most damaging finding involved the company's pre orders. Endenberg found that these orders were little more than non binding expressions of interest that required no deposit Many of the supposed customers didn't even operate vehicle fleets or possessed the financial means to buy thousands of trucks, even if they wanted to. Others such as Innovations LLC and E squared Energy were revealed to be nothing more than tiny consulting firms that were recruited solely to generate publicity Some companies Heindenberurg contacted said they didn't even know they had been counted as customers and had no plans to purchase the vehicles. as Heindenberurg's report concluded, quote We found zero binding orders or genuine signs of commitment in Leordgetown's order book. The company's orders are largely fictitious and used as a prop to raise capital and confer legitimacy and even if the orders were legitimate Lordstown's ability to actually build the endurance seemed far fetched. Former employees told Hendenberurg, the company was still years away from production In fact, Lordstown hadn't even conducted its first road test until january twenty twenty one moreore than six months after opening preordders The test lasted about ten minutes before the prototype burst into flames. Your car is on fire? Yeah. Okay, so what kind of vehicle is it anlement is an LSC Lodestone motors electric vehicles. Meanwhile, as all of this was unfolding behind the scenes Company executives were reportedly quietly dumping as much as twenty eight million dollars of their own stock While retail investors continued buying into the Lordstown hype when Hindenberurg finally exposed the company with its report It would be those retail investors who would almost certainly be the ones left holding the bag A new research report electrified Wall Street but took the charge out of Lordstown Motors in the process. It stock flopped sixteen percent today. The Hindenberurgt report also says former employees described CEO Steve Burns as a con man. Byrurns told the Wall Street Journal, The report contained half truths and lies despite Steve Burns's assertions that the Hindenberurg report was inaccurate and motivated by the research firm's own short position. did little to stop the bleeding Llordstown Motor's stock price continued its freefall in the days that followed Even after Byurns held a press conference on march fifteenth, wearing a hard hat to announce that production of the endurance was still proceeding according to schedule. When asked about the Heindenberurg report The sixty two year old CEO of a publicly traded company said, quote There's always haters. There's always haters. I quoted Taylor Swift as somebody the other day. Haters are going to hate hate, hate, hate. You got to shake it off.. Oh I Lordstown Motors was unable to shake it off As the Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating the company's misleading statements, its market value continued to collapse And by june twenty twenty one Lordestown warned that it lacked the funding to begin commercial production of the endurance and faced the real risk of bankruptcy CEO Steve Burns resigned a week later The company tried toay afloat by selling the former GM factactory tube Taiwanese electronics giant Foxcon which agreed to assemble the endurance That partnership soon unraveled After Lordstown was forced to recall nineteen of its first thirty one manufactured trucks because of electrical issues. Lord Town Motor is the startu buildt a lot of hype around its electric vehicle has filed for bankruptcy put itself up for sale. It's also suing a company. It says back out of a deal that would have kept it in business In the end, the company that had once been valued at five billion dollars delivered just six trucks before filing for bankruptcy in june twenty twenty three The SEC later charged Lordstown Motors with misleading investors The case ended in a civil settlement after the company agreed to pay up to ten million dollars to investors, roughly four point a half cents per share. without admitting wrongdoing No criminal charges were ever filed Not even against former CEO Steve Burns who eventually bought back much of Lordstown Motor's intellectual property at a bankruptcy auction The paperware dream lives on. But what makes the story even more remarkable is that it wasn't unique justust one year earlier, another zero emission vehicle startup. had followed nearly the exact same playbook and even featured some of the same players. The company was called Nicola Motor Company. And the parallels I think you will find quite astonishing Only a Nicholas case. personersonalities are bigger. The deception boulder Greed, greater. and the miscarriage of justice evenven more disgusting charismatic entrepreneur with a revolutionary idea buildus a multib billion dollar business on little more than smoke mirrors and the hill onn this episode of swwindled The taxpayer dollars never was a hundred eight tens of billions of millionars billion dollars also find hiss and a record respountonsable for the collapse of the entire system. I mean the control of some kindd of sw Support for Swindle comes from simply saafe. In the US, there's a break in every twenty six seconds That means somewhere right now, an intruder is getting closer The problem is that most home security systems only alert you after a break in has already started And by then, the damage may have already been done. That's why I chose Simply Sfe Using the Outdoor Camera Series twoI and advanced AI alerts, SimplySaf's US. based live agents can identify threats on your property and help deter them before they become break inss That's a real piece of mind. One thing I really appreciate is how simple the whole experience is The setetup was quick, there were no long term contracts, and monitoring plans started around a dollar a day Whether I'm away for the weekend or just hearing a strange noise outside at night It's reassuring to know there's a system actively looking out for my home I want you to experience the same peace of mind I do Which is why I've partnered with SimpllySafe to offer an exclusive discount to my listeners Right now, you can get fifty percent off your new system by visiting simppllySafe d. com slash swindled That's half off at simplysafe d. com slash swwindled There's no safe, like simply safe. everver since I was a child, I was very interested in business. I came from originally came from Utah, wasorn in Lightton, Utah. my father was was A Union Pacific railroad guy, He managed the railroad. That's where my love for locomotive semi trucks came from s been a dream of mine since I was six years old driving locomotives and you know, locomotives and ing wanting to build a locomotive semi truck And that is that is a little bit about who Trevor is. justust a quick. thirty thousand foot overview Trevor Milton says he knew from childhood that he was destined to reinvent the semi truck that every experience in his life thereafter had been preparing him for that moment clothing in early one that You'd rather not have experienced at all Trevor was eight years old, his mother Sally was diagnosed with cancer He says he spent the next six years watching her slowly wither away before she died in nineteen ninety seven Understandably that trauma had a profound effect on his childhood Trevor struggled to focus eventually dropp out of high school un setettled for a GED But he has said watching his mother battle her illness and the forced self rel linance that followed taught him something more valuable than any classroom ever could and how to survive I remember so many times where she would get up and try to get out of bed and she the fall. , you know, 'use you just would never give up. This woman was the greatest inspiration in my life. never, ever give up After high school, Trevor tried college but quickly gave up They dropped out of Utah Valley State College after a single semester. Instead he credits the most influential chapter of his early life O the eighteen months he spent serving a mission in Brazil for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints The mission was cut short after he'd nearly lost an arm, Trevor claims, but not before he had honed what would ultimately become his greatest skill Turns out Snding a year and a half pitching Christianity to strangers in a foreign language is excellent preparation for a career in sales Trevor soon put those skills to work He spent a few months in Puerto Rico selling alarm systems door to door, before returning to southwest Utah in two thousand three to apply his trade there Threvor took over an ADT security services franchise called St. George Security and Alarm He was just twenty years old You know, the whole door to door thing back in the early two thousands withithin a few within about a year or two, I sold it for almost two million dollars, and I thought I was like on top of the world. You know, I was like, oh, I'm like expert at this thing Trevor Milton reinvested the proceeds from the sale of St. George into a new project Classified ads a website called you pillar eventually launched in the summer of two thousand nine. You pillar We'll become the largest competitor to eBay in the next one to two years, Milton declared firstirst as premonition appeared accurate Trevorss count, the website was generating eighty million monthly users at one point But unfortunately pillar was doomed to fail It was just so far ahead of its time according to Trev Plus, Utah was no Silicon Valley. We beat Amazon v eBay We were growing. We had eighty million people on our site And ultimately, we would have ended up being Amazon, but we were in Utah and at the time, Utah had no clue what investment was around the interternet. So We just grew too fast. In Trevor's mind, even his failures were successes. He's always several steps ahead of everyone else In fact by the time you pillar shut down in twenty twelve, you'd already decided on his next move. It was almost as if the website had been destined to flop, so Trevor could finally pursue what he believed was his true calling reinventing the wheel. At least reinventing the way wheels are powered in commercial trucks Milton teamed up with an acquaintance who had developed a way to convert diesel engines to run on compressed natural gas simultaneously company Dhybrid Incorporated quickly gained traction It even signed a sixteen million dollars agreement with one of the nation's largest trucking companies, Swift Transportation to convert up to eight hundred vehicles in its fleet According to Trevor, Dehybrid eventually secured more than one hundred million dollars in contracts before an investor stole the company's intellectual property triggered a wave of litigation that ultimately forced Trevor and his partner to close the company down. Wh we ended up having to close that company down, not because of our fault, but primarily because people wanted our IP and they came after us and sued us for it And I didn't have the resources or the people to defend me at the time. So that was that was another one. I mean, to have back to back failures, it was like, man, it's almost like a one, two knockout punch, you know Trevor fell flat on his face again It would have been so easy to quit right then and there. Trevor could have just given up his entrepreneurial dreams and gotten a regular job. I've gone back to selling alarm systems Maybe even gone back to school. Then Trevor says thought about his mother She never stopped fighting in the face of impossible odds He would never be able to live with himself didn't do the same Trevor Milton reformed and relaunched Dhybrid And in less than two years, the new version of the company was acquired twenty fourteen Columbus based manufacturing giant, Worthington Industries agreed to purchase dehybrid systems for sixteen million dollars Worththington actually came away so impressed that it was willing to back Trevor's next venture before he'd even decided what it was Given his impressive track record, that didn't seem to matter Worthington recognized a talented entrepreneur when they saw one And when he did finally unveil his vision for the future People became convinced that Trevor Milton was about to change the world Yeah, so we started. know pretty much when I first founded the company, I funded the first few million dollars myself, brought in an investor called Worthington Industries that bought my previous company They funded it with a few million dollars. So we just had a we had a pretty small budget, you know, it was four or five million when we first started. We were working out in my basement at my house. Trevor Milton moved to Salt Lake City to launch his new company, which was initially called Blue Gin teech Denn he remembered a name he hadd reserved a decade earlier while still selling alarm systems Nicola Motors As in Nicola Tesla Trevor swears it has nothing to do with Tesla motors which was founded just weeks after he came up with his own brand, the honor the Serbian Engineer Just a weird coincidence Anyway, like dehybrid. Niickola's original business plan revolved around compressed natural gas. this time instead of retro fitting existing vehicles Trevor planned to build his own fleet of futuristic semi trucks and lease them directly to customers. A natural gas powered turbine would generate electricity for electric motors eliminating the traditional diesel drive trarain altogether Our technology is ten to fifteen years ahead of any other OEM in fuel efficiencies, MPG, and emissions. Trevor proclaimed in a twenty sixteen press release. To sweeten the deal, the first five thousand customers would receive enough free natural gas to power their trucks for one million miles. five thousand reservations came in quickly Proving there was an appetite for would have been dubbed the Nicola One then in a shocking twist J just three months before the trucks unveiling in december twenty sixteen Trevor Milton scrapped the entire concept The turbine electric truck was dead he announced to his staff and board Nicola would build a hydrogen electric of semi instead The announcement stunned nearly everyone involved They were like, no way, Jvor later recalled. You've already got millions of dollars into this turbine. The truck is ready to go What are you thinking, man? I'm thinking forward, Trevor insisted. visionary You see while the company had been developing its turbine prototype, he explained Hydrogen fuel cell technology have advanced enough to make the most ideal vehicle possible Hydrogen is much lighter than a battery electric equivalent, which is especially attractive for long haul trucking So as refueling, which would take minutes instead of hours to recharge And at the tailpipe, the hydrogen fuel cell emits nothing but water vapor and heat So if the hydrogen itself was produced using renewable electricity the entire process could, in theory virtually emissions free somethingomething neither natural gas nor batteries could claim It was the holy grail of clean transportation Well, if hydrogen is so great Why hasn't anyone tried it before They have, Trevor scolded his colleagues, but it's never been widely adopted for various reasons First and foremost, the cost notot only to produce dispensable hydrogen, which requires a massive amount of electricity but also to build the required infrastructure that would make owning a hydrogen powered vehicle In other words, nobody bought hydrogen vehicles because there were no hydrogen fueling stations. And nobody built hydrogen fueling stations because there were no hydrogen vehicles Trevor, sir All of these, let's call them barriers to entry still exist. I'm not sure we can make it work. You shut your mouth. Trevor Milton scolded, offended by the notion that he hadn't already thought through every angle can and will Build everything, he demanded. truck Vically integrated the fueling station. Verttically integrated the hydrogen production facilility. Vically integr the entire ecosystem. Vtically integrate the entire ecosystem. A vertically integrated undertaking so ambitious it would require solving problems that had stumped the world's largest automakers and energy companies for decades. Trust me, Trevor said I've already solved it There's no one better than me that I've ever found that can see more equations and more more solutions more problems like and I can dissect those things within seconds. And I'm usually five to ten years ahead thinking around problems that are coming our way. They're not here yet. I definitely am a visionary. There's no doubt. I always I love to see into the future. I love to to fix complicated problems. I love to vertically integrate surprisingly Trevor Milton couldn't do it alone put together what he described as one of the best teams in the world Most of whom have little to no experience in the automotive industry which is exactly what the project required I needed people who believed anything was possible, Trevor told Forbes peopleeople who did not have automotive experience to limit us by being bound to what had been done in the past I essentially needed people equally as naive as myself. notot that he had much of a choice All of the legacy automakers basically laughed Trevor out of the room when he solicited them as partners in his grandiose hydrogen ecosystem idea even Elon Musk. The man who had at once reinvented the subway, but with the cars had dismissed hydrogen fuel cells as B cells. and called the mind boggling stupid That's fine. Trevor Milton said to himself, trying not to cry He would get the last laugh In fact, he added on his calendar december first and second, twenty sixteen. the launch event at Nicholas's headquarters in Salt Lake City where he would unveil the Niicola One prototype to an invite only crowd of six hundred guests, including media, potential customers, suppliers, industry partners, and government officials Design unveilingor functional protype, someone asked on Twitter functioning. fully built truck at eent Trevor replied We've built something that no one else thought was possible. And we've done it with a team of passionate, driven, young entrepreneurs all put into one incredible team here at Nicola This is all the thinkers and the inventors and the entrepreneurs that didn't stop after their first failure It was the same thing here. We failed, we failed, we failed And then we succeeded. over the course of the two day event Trevor Milton officially introduced Nicola to the world And he explained how his vision extended far beyond a semi truck Starting with the coast to coast network of seven hundred hydrogen fueling stations, they plan to strategically build along the routes of customers who committed to leasing Nicolas trucks The fueling network wasn't just part of Nicola's business plan, Trevor explained. It was the business plan It would power not only Nicless trucks, but eventually every hydrogen powered vehicle that followed What about the truck Show us the truck, man When the lights turned back on, the white sheet covering the thirteen foot tall prototype was lifted and the platform began to spin On display was a white semi with US expxpress branding and its trademark red and blue stripes There was an additional decal that read H two, zero emission, hydrogen electric Oh, that think is so awesome The Nicola onene was the first of its kind. Trevor Milton emphasized earlier in the presentation, a zero emission one thousand horsepower hydrogen fueled semi truck with two thousand pounds of torque that can haul eighty thousand pounds more than one thousand miles without stopping Production would begin in twenty twenty, Milton announced. The company anticipated demand so overwhelming that they would never be able to catch up. We will have a chain on the seats to prevent people from coming in just for safety. I don't want someone to end up doing something and driving the truck off the stage. And this truck will come to market. I can promise you that. For every doubter out there that said that there's no way this is true. A How can that be possible? We've done it It's my pleasure to actually let you guys enjoy the night, see the truck, know it's real, touch it, feel how sturdy it is. You're gonna see that this is a real truck. This is not a pusher. Thank you so much, everyone. I appreciate it. Thank you Trevor Milton later described that event as a drop the Mic moment. He had heard it all. These guys are paperware. They're fake, They're frauds. They're li know these wonderful comments. Afterward, he said, Every automaker in the world was terrified and started spending billions of dollars trying to catch up. But it was already too late. Based on what Niickola had planned for the years ahead Trevor Milton had already left them in the dust The company would eventually announce five additional vehicles, including a hydrogen powered semi truck specifically for Europe, a battery electric power sports division that included a jet ski, a utility task vehicle, and a military grade tactical off highway vehicle. And finally, there was the Niicola Badger, a zero emission pickup truck with the option of battery electric or hydrogen. And this thing is insanity. It is the most beautiful truck I think the world has ever seen It's a fully functioning vehicle inside, outside, HVAC, everything, you know, windows, everything. All that it works I shouldn't say all of it. I'll probably have a couple pieces on a b breke on me, but hey it's part of the process of building this truck, but it's a real truck. It's not just some mock up thing that other people have done. This is a real real truck There were also some real real hydrogen fueling stations in the works, some real breakthroughs in battery technology. There were some real partnerships being made with companies like Bosch and Heaiser Bush. And There was some real progress being made on the Nicla Fory just outside of Phoenix, where thirty five thousand vehicles a year would be manufactured by twenty twenty three Most importantly, there was some real investment money flooding into the company, driven by the billions it had already generated in pre clles, and by Milton's claim that he was able to produce hydrogen at a cost lower than purchasing diesel By the end of twenty nineteen Nikola had raised more than five hundred million dollars through private offerings from investors such as Jeff Uubbin of Value A Capital Management, who publicly claimed Niicola would be worth one hundred billion dollars in the near future. I mean this is This is a hundred billion dollar company hundred billion do company because it's solving the biggest problem, which is decarbonizing transport fuel That's the biggest problem But Nicola would need substantially more capital to fully realize its plans Fortunately, there was a shortcut On june fourth, twenty twenty, Nickola became a publicly traded company through a SPAC merger with a shell company called VectoIQ, founded by former General Motors executive Stehven Gersky. I want to thank all the governments and all the investors that have made this possible It's now my opportunity in my pleasure to count down to the ringing of the bell in the NazAC with Niicola Motor Company In the days that followed, Niicola's stock price more than doubled. Thanks in part to the promotional blitz Trevor Milton had embarked on, he appeared on seemingly every cable business news broadcast and podcast with the words truck or market in the title, pitching Nikola as more than just another automaker. It was a new kind of company altogether, he explained, an energy technology company, one led by a founder who welcomed scrutiny, engaged directly with critics and supporters on social media, and wasn't afraid to tell investors exactly what he was thinking. The little guys, the Robinhood investors, as he called them, were precisely the people he wanted buying Nicholas stock and his efforts worked pre revenue company, which had yet to earn a single dollar, reached a market capitalization of nearly thirty billion dollars, surpassing Ford Motor Company, the one hundred seventeen year old automaker that had generated one hundred fifteen billion dollars in revenue that year irrational or not Trevor Milton became an overnight billionaire As Nickel' executive chairman and largest shareholder, his stake in the company was suddenly worth more than seven billion dollars. Although Mark Russell, a longtime Niicola executive and fellow instant billionaire, now held the title of CEO, Nikola remained, in every meaningful sense, Trevor's company. He was still the public face and biggest promoter of its extraordinary promises, and he was just getting started The next four or five years, Trevor predicted is going to be one of the greatest stories ever told The following is a paid advertisement for the Swintle Valued Listener Rewards prorogram Are you tired of hearing advertisements in Swindled like this one? Do you wish there was more swindled content to distract you from your miserable existence? Don't settle for those other inferior podcasts with the annoying hosts who laugh at their own jokes, beccome a swindled valued listener today to receive easy access to new episodes and exclusive access to bonus episodes that are not available anywhere else. Cpletely advertisement free It's fun for the whole family, but don't take our word for it. H I just wanted to call and say how grateful I am for the Swindles Vallalue Listener prorogram. I've been sitting here at the airport for about four days now waiting on my lover's bed Lana to touchdown. She meant to text someone else, but luckily she punched in my number instead How lucky am I I sent her about six thousand dollars, and it's gonna be worth every penning. Much like this valued Listener program. Millions of swindled fans have discovered the secret of becoming a valued listener. Try it in your own home today. Also, act now to receive the valued News for Valued Listeners Update showhow at no extra cost. That's a five thousand dollars value for one easy monthly payment of four dollars ninety nine c Go to valuedlistener. com to sign up using Spotify, Apple podcasts, or Patreon. No long term commitments, satisfaction guaranteed, foreign currency accepted. Ccel any time. Please, just give us your money Support for Swindled comes from simply safe. In the US, there's a break in every twenty six seconds. That means somewhere right now, an intruder is getting closer The problem is that most home security systems only alert you after a break in has already started And by then, the damage may have already been done. That's why I chose SimpllySafe. Using the Outdoor Camera Series two and advanced AI alerts, SimpllySafe's US. based live agents can identify threats on your property and help deter them before they become break inss That's a real piece of mind. One thing I really appreciate is how simple the whole experience is The setetup was quick, there were no long term contracts, and monitoring plans started around a dollar a day Whether I'm away for the weekend or just hearing a strange noise outside at night It's reassuring to know there's a system actively looking out for my home I want you to experience the same peace of mind I do whichich is why I've partnered with SimpllySafe to offer an exclusive discount to my listeners Right now, you can get fifty percent off your new system by visiting simppllySafe d. com slash swindled That's half off at simimpllysafe dot com slash swwindled There's no safe, like simply safe. Support for Swindle comes from simimply saafe In the US, there's a break in every twenty six seconds That means somewhere right now, an intruder is getting closer The problem is that most home security systems only alert you after a break in has already started. And by then, the damage may have already been done. That's why I chose SimpllySafe. Using the Outdoor camera series two and advanced AI alerts, SimpllySafe's US. based live agents can identify threats on your property and help deter them before they become break inss That's a real pieace of mind. One thing I really appreciate is how simple the whole experience is The setup was quick, there were no long term contracts, and monitoring plans started around a dollar a day Whether I'm away for the weekend or just hearing a strange noise outside at night It's reassuring to know there's a system actively looking out for my home I want you to experience the same peace of mind I do whichich is why I've partnered with SimpllySafe to offer an exclusive discount to my listeners Right now, you can get fifty percent off your new system by visiting simppllySafe d. com slash swindled That's half off at simplyafe d. com slash swwindled There's no safe, like simply safe It is the new hot electric vehicle stock, Nicola roaring higher. It is now up ninety six percent since its june fourth debiew at one point last week and had a market cap bigger than that of Ford Motor. We allowed retail investors to come in. And they get a ride the ride with us. Now it's very volatile. But they get to ride the ride with us. And that's the advantage It's not just big big humumunongous funds that are buying all your stock and they eat all the upside The regular person gets to be part of the Nicola story now, and that's a brand new model that no one's ever really done before until now onn june seventeenth, twenty twenty less than two weeks after Niicola Motors went to public. The company hit its first speed bump It came in the form of a Bloomberg news article with the headline. Niicola Founder exaggerated the capability of his debut truck. Reporter Ed Ludlo had spoken with several former Nicola employees who claimed the Niicola One unveiled in twenty sixteen was inoperable and missing key components That might be an understatement. According to the Bloomberg article, the truck was towed onto the stage at night before the event because the gears and motors had not been installed There was no hydrogen fuel cell on board. The sleek infotainment display was nothing more than an iPad showing a static mockup image Even the headlights were powered by external battery and operated with a remote control Remember, in the weeks leading up to the Unveiling, throughout the events itself and for years afterward Trevor Milton had repeatedly described the Niicola One as a fully functioning truck You'd even joke that chains had been strung across the dashboard to keep people from driving it off the stage I mean, this is a fully functioning vehicle. It's not just a It's not just a pusher. It's what they call in the automotive world, a vehle that Push and it doesn't move But now Trevor Milton was telling a different story. in a phone interview with Bloomberg excerpts of which appeared in the article. He acknowledged that the Nicola onene hadn't driven under its own power The motors and gears, he said, have been removed for safety reasons There wasn't a fuel cell in the truck, Milton admitted. We never claimed there was. Then he added I never deceived anyone Within hours of the article's publication, Trevor was lashing out on Twitter This is sad, he wrote and Loodlow should be let go He will never set foot in my building or events Niicola puts on. No one in Bloomberg either Trevor demanded the news organization release the full recording of the interview insisting the reporter had twisted his words. He ruined Bloomberg's good name, he continued. I don't back down and I'm happy to take this fight on There were no gears and motors missing. You jack job They were sitting on the table to show the audience in person Why would we have them in the truck if we weren't going to drive it Shortly afterward, Milton proudly texted a member of Nicola's board. Sare value went up after my response. Was it in fact a sort of a fake truck show in twenty sixteen? I mean, the answer was is every part on that truck was functionable. We just didn't feel safe driving it at that time. No It was all operable But it wasn't really that safe. Like it could have killed someone in the audience Over the next several days Trevor embarked on another media tour insisting Bloomberg had gotten the story wrong But the criticisms and skepticism of Nicola kept coming v ever was adamant that it didn't bother him Then he would do things like publicly announce that Nikola was actively tracking negative tweets about the company which he claimed were the work of paid agitators The rest he figured were but herurt Tesla fans who simply couldn't accept that there was another genius in the Zero emission game that could rival Elon Musk. There's very few people that can out Elon in this world and and I'm one of them. I have no problem with him. I think he's a I think, you know, what he's done is awesome There's it's kind of hard when you know, for his followers to see someone that can actually build something bigger or or more competitive than what he has. So that's why we get a lot of that hate sometimes But at the end of the day, the hate hardly mattered. Niicola was on a roll And everything appeared to be unfolding exactly as Trevor Milton had promised Construction had begun on the company's six hundred million dollars manufacturing facility in Arizona complete with what Nika acc claimed would become the largest hydrogen fueling station in the western hemisphere. Reservations for the badger pickup were steadily coming in, and Republic Services had just announced an order worth billions of dollars for hydrogen electric garbage trucks Bringing Nicholas's total amount of preorders to more than ten billion dollars or letters of intent whatever No, real quick I want to correct something. they're not letter intense. They're actually contacts with. got it. Yeah. Billions and billions of dollars worth the contracts So I want to be clear about that because a lot of people thought that it's just like a non commommittal thing. it's not. These are like Sign on the dotted line Billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars in orders. Now we have to deliver and they can get out if we don't deliver, but that's how it is with any contract you do in life like this. Trevor Milton have no doubt Nikola would deliver. In fact, he insisted the company's biggest announcement was still to come During the summer of twenty twenty, he teas that the next four months would be the best four months in Niicola history I would not bet against Niicola at all, he advised Tre himself certainly wasn't That summer, it spent eighty three and a half million dollars on an airplane and an estate in Turks and Cicos The purchases came on the heels of another lavish acquisition. thirty two and a half million dollar ranch in Utah repeportedly the most expensive residential property ever sold in the state The sixteen thousand square foot mansion set on more than two thousand acres along the Weber River and featured its own helip pad allowing Trevor and his wife Chelsea to fly themselves back and forth to Salt Lake City whenever they pleased So much for zero emissions, I guess Clearly, Trevor Milton was living and spending like someone who wasn't worried a bit about the future then on september eighth, twenty twenty Everyone else found out why. Good morning, everyone. It' super early. three thirty in the morning. I was up here in Arizona. So I just wanted to tell everyone real quick between my interviews H humumungous announcement today, Nicola and General Motors have partnered too build the Nicle of badger and to leverage their entire supplyain batteries fuels everything else, absolutely wonderful We're gonna kick some assks. Couldn't be more excited. H hope you guys have a great day. I'll try to come back on later, but back to back on interviews right now It was true In exchange for an eleven percent equity stake valued at roughly two billion dollars and a seed on Nicola's board General Motors agreed to a ten year partnership to engineer and manufacture the badger pickup Nicholas stock surged another fifty percent This will allow Niola to achieve things Niicola could never do on its own, Trevor said during a conference call It's a win win GM CEO, Mary Bara agreed. It was undoubtedly the biggest moment in Nikola's history Basted forty eight hours While Tesla is hire today, Nicola shares are tumbling after a short seller called the company, quote, an intricate fraud built on dozens of lies september tenth, twenty twenty After a year long investigation, sparked by two former Nicola contractors turned whistleblowers Indenberurg research published a report titled Nicola How to parlay an ocean of lies into a partnership with the largest auto OEM in America. The short selling firm's investigation concluded that Trevor Milton's revolutionary transportation company intricate fraud quote We have never seen this level of deception at a public company, especially of this size. The report alleged that nearly every aspect of Niicola's story had been exaggerated or fabricated. from its manufacturing capabilities and proprietary battery technology preorders and the solar panels that supposedly powered its headquarters. One of the report's most explosive claims centered on a promotional video Nikola had posted in january twenty eighteen Fotage appeared to show the Nicola onene cruising through the Utah desert under its own power acccording to whistleblowers At that time, the truck still couldn't propel itself. The year after it was shown off on stage. Instead, it had been towed to the top of a long, gently sloping road released and allowed to roll downhill Nikola allegedly rotated the resulting footage to hide the incline, increased the playback speed by two to three times, and posted the video online with the caption Behold the one thousand horsepower zero emission Nigla semi truck in motion It was a sensational allegation that was sure to grab the most headlines but it wasn't nearly the most damaging Trevor Milton had spent years, claiming Niicola had solved one of Hydrogen's greatest obstacles. producing it cheaply enough to make a nationwide fueling network economically viable It was the bread and butter of Nicola's business after all. acccording to Hendenberurg Nicola had to produced exactly zero kilograms of hydrogen Zero The company didn't even have the permits necessary to produce it So Hindenberg began looking at the people. Trevor Milton had assembled to solve one of the world's most difficult engineering challenges We expected to find that Nikola had hired a world renowned scientist to lead its revolutionary hydrogen efforts, the report read instead It appears Niicola had appointed Trevor Milton's brother, Travis former concrete contractor The deeper Hindenberurg looked, the stranger and funnier Nikola's Rster became The company's quote, Hydrogen expert, Dale Prows had previously managed a golf course in Idaho Chief engineer Kevin Link's resume included software development and nine recent months repairing pinball machines Keep in mind, this was the same company. Wall Street that briefly valued higher than Ford Hindenberg rejected the idea that Nicholas claims were merely optimistic projections or harmless startup hype The firm concluded they were part of a deliberate pattern of deception by a culture of secrecy and intimidation We think Trevor Milton isn incapable of telling the truth, the report stated We believe he lies like most people breathe The report also dug into Trevor's previous ventures and found inflated alarm contracts at St. George' Security Exaggerated claims that YPillar was competing with Amazon and eBay and allegations that he had cut the inventor of dehybrids technology and early investors out of the company's eventual sale Formmer colleagues all describes Trevor Milton the same way. as a snake Indenberg left the final word to Trevor The report concluded with fifty three questions that, in its view, investors deserved answered The last one was the most straightforward Have you ever deceived anyone? What's up everyone? So the other day I got a heads up from someone inside who was like, Hey, just want to let you know. This Hindenburg company that I got connections with is doing a total hit job on you trying to destroy you and ruin your life and's going to make a ton of around everything you've done wrong in your life in your past. I was like You know, I get this all the time, all the time Um this one is obviously a little bit different they spent, you know, a ton of time, a ton of research and paid a bunch of people like to give them a emails and different things, whatever. Long story short is none of it even really matters. I'm going to I'm going to address each point individually. u in a in a response, but It goes to show you that when you're changing the world and you're doing good things and you're an entrepreneur A These people love to try to take you down. They love it. But this was all about money and greed forty four million shares were shorted, according to one of the documents the reports we and I'll respond to everyone. so You'll see my link come up soon. It's gonnaitt t take a few hours, getet through this. ages of bullshit. So it's gonna take me some time, but I'll have the response for you guys and have a great day. I'll catch you up a little bit later Trevor Milton's fans and critics alike were sitting on pins and needles, anxiously awaiting his rebuttal on full few hours passed without a response. than a whole day Until finally, another string of Instagram stories posted to Trevor's profile. Hey, what's up, everyone? So first of all, you know, I never take any bullshit. I come straight at everything I ever have done never back down on anything And then he backed down rather than answering Hindenburg's fifty three questions Trevor announced Negla's lawyers had advised the company to proactively contact the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the allegations So unfortunately His hands were tied and his lips were sealed He just wanted everyone to know how painful that was. li Every single thing in there was M It drives me nuts that I can't send them out to you guys. look I want you to know that it sucks, it hurts. I know per I'm super mad and there's nothing can do about it for a little bit, okay? You gott give me some time. It's not in my hands and in the hands of the attorneys and the SEC So let them do their part for just a little bit. I know it's gonna to hurt when we come out of it, everyone will be like listen for my language, fuck those people. They're shitty people. All this was lies and it was slander against Nicola to make hundreds or t millions of dollars of profit on short selling ninety nine percent of them are all lies The market responded to the Hindenburg report in predictable fashion. desespite Nikola dismissing it as a quote job for short sell profit driven by greed. The company's stock fell thirty six percent in just two days, wiping billions of dollars off its market value And there was plenty of room to lose more all eyes fixed on genereral motors Tw days earlier, the automaker had agreed to partner with Niicola Would GM stand by the embattled startup and weather the storm Or would it admit that they had made a costly mistake and pulled the plug As it turns out that decision would Almost be made for them. Trevor Milton, the founder of electric truck company Nicola, is voluntarily stepping down as executive chairman and giving up his board seat This move comes after shortseller Hindenberurg Rsearch accused Milton of making false statements about Nicholas technology in order to try and grow and secure partnerships with automakers The Justice Department and the SEC are investigating allegations made by Hindenburg on september twentieth, twenty twenty. face of multiple federal investigations Trevor Milton voluntarily stepped down as executive chairman of the board of the company he founded. Niicola is truly in my blood and always will be Milton said in a statement posted to social media The focus should be on the company and its world changing mission, not me. I intend to defend myself against false allegations levied against me by outside detractors. was quite a pivot. Two weeks earlier, Trevor was righteously indignant Ready to fight, never backing down, et cetera, etcetera. And that was just throwing in the towel. Was Chvermilton really leaving because of the Hindenburg report Or maybe he knew that an even bigger skeleton was about to fall out of its closet upp for Swindled comes from simimply saafe In the US, there's a break in every twenty six seconds That means somewhere right now, an intruder is getting closer The problem is that most home security systems only alert you after a break in has already started. And by then, the damage may have already been done. That's why I chose Simply Sfe Using the Outdoor Camera Series twoI and advanced AI alerts, SimppllySf's US. based live agents can identify threats on your property and help deter them before they become break inss That's a real piece of mind. 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That's why I chose SimpllySafe. Using the Outdoor Camera series two and advanced AI alerts, SimpllySafe's US. based live agents can identify threats on your property and help deter them before they become break inss That's a real pieace of mind. One thing I really appreciate is how simple the whole experience is setetup was quick, there were no long term contracts, and monitoring plans started around a dollar a day Whether I'm away for the weekend or just hearing a strange noise outside at night It's reassuring to know there's a system actively looking out for my home I want you to experience the same peace of mind I do whichich is why I've partnered with SimpllySafe to offer an exclusive discount to my listeners Right now, you can get fifty percent off your new system by visiting simppllySafe d. com slash swindled That's half off at simimpllysafe dot com slash swwindled There's no safe, like simply safe Johnny Rob was thirty years old. He had a rich social life, and even though he did not come from money, He also made rich friends He had mentioned he had a friend that was starting up a company. and It had to do something with electric trucks. Trevor Milton, the founder of Nickeola Motor Company, is a billionaire twenty nineteen, he set a real estate record purchasing the most expensive home in Utah. I remember Johnny said one day, I'm sure he'll be really wealthy. But according to Johnny, has the two spent plenty of time and trips together He started to learn how Trevor treated women Jonathan Howard Robb and Trevor Milton have been close friends for almost fifteen years Even after their lives began to wildly diverge, the two kept in touch at least for a while Trevor obviously became Batham moobly rich and successful whileile Johnny struggled with a bipolar diagnosis and manic depression Others say Johnny fell deep into the hardcore drugs and lived on the streets It's no wonder the two eventually drifted apart A few years had passed with no communication between the old friends And then in early april twenty twenty, Trevor noticed Johnny had started tagging him an Instagram post. Trevor clicked through Dude, I' hung on to every single dirty criminal secret with women that you've ever done, dude. You've got like thousands of skeletons in your closet and these skeletons want justice. I'm bringing it all out, dude, the truth, all of it, every little bit of it now Threvor dismissed the post as the ramblings of a disgruntled and mentally ill former friend Johnyept going They accused Trevor of sexual assault. He alleged that Trevor had paid women to have sex with his friends while he watched They claim to possess screenshots of inappropriate conversations between Trevor and other women Maybe even miners Billionaire entrepreneur and self proclaimed visionary, Johnny insisted. preree and a fraud Johnny said he had the evidence to prove it Trevor was fat up He said he reached out to Johnny through direct messages, telling him to stop harassing him online Johnny replied that he would. five hundred thousand dollars Trevor agreed He later said he saw no other choice but to play along The allegations were false, Trevor insisted The screenshot's fabricated, obviously But in his view merely being accused could permanently destroy his reputation In this world, Trevor said You're guilty no matter what. comomes the women But before any money changed hands, Trevor went to the Summit County Sheriff's Office and reported that he was being extorted case was referred to investigators with the Utah Attorney General's offffice for some reason. reccordings of the AG invvestigators's interview with Trevor were later obtained by Fox thirteen in Utah And I definitely opened up to him about a lot of things. Johnny Robb was arrested in a sting operation on april sixteenth, twenty twenty at a hotel in Murray, Utah Dortion Johnny was beside himself No. Tvor Milton offered me the five hundred thousand dollars It was his idea It was hush money And wait u til you read what he's done to women, bro, It's just as dude I just have a bank he knows it. You got my phone? You G grab my phone. We'll pull it all up. Just hang onto it. Okay hang ono it. Let this all blow over Once this is all blown over You want to earn how you want with this. rather than puruing Johnny's allegations against Trevor. Investigators with the Utah Attorney General's offffice charged him with attempted theft by extortion Johnny was arrested and spent the next twenty days in jail The D after his release on may seventh, twenty twenty Jonathan Howard Rob drove to one of its favorite spots in the mountains died by suicide It was thirty years old It was so hard because like I tried to help him for months and months many of our friends try to help you And he just went on that's what drugs. it's just so sad to see people get drugs, Do you don't knowember when Trevor Milton maintained he had done everything he could to help his former friend It claimed Johnny had been manipulated by his junky friends who created fake social media accounts. to convince some to blackmail a wealthy acquaintance He further suggested that Johnny took his own life because Instagram had deleted his account after his arrest. But they let him out because of COVID. And and Instagram deleted as a profile because he used it for extortion. And That was the only thing he had in his life was his followers And He hung himself that night one detail Trevor Milton never mentions in his retelling. that before Johnny's arrest donated fifteen thousand dollars to the reelection campaign of Utah Attorney General, Sean Reyes. After Fox thirteen News uncovered the contribution and ask the attttorney general's office about it. The campaign promptly refunded the money That was just one of the reasons Johnny's family and friends never accepted Trevor's version of events They acknowledge Johnys struggles, reject the idea that he had fabricated the allegations out of thin air They believed Johnny had been trying to expose something real Now there may be one day he would be vindicated Consider that your trigger warning Nickeola founder, Trevor Milton is in some more hot water this morning. A second woman has now come forward with formal sexual assault accusations against him. It comes just days after Milton stepped down as executive chairman of the electric truck maker amid fraud allegations by a short seller Days after Trevor Milton resigned from Nicola a woman named Aubrey Smith publicly accused him of sexually assaulting her in nineteen ninety nine when she was fifteen years old and he was seventeen Aubrey Trevor's cousin She said the assault took place at an uncle's house following their grandfather's funeral family I've gathered According to Aubrey, she and Trevor eventually found themselves alone in a room after watching a movie He told her he was taking a massage class at school. and asked if she wanted one. He explained that everyone in the class removed their shirts He was my cousin, Aubrey later wrote. Of course I could trust him If I couldn't be safe with family, who could I trust my shirt off. And then he goes. Yeah, in my class The girls always take their bras off because the straps get in the way and I froze As he said it He undid my brawn, took it off And he groped me and someomebody eventually knocked on the door B told her mother what had happened Her mother would later confirm her daughter's account to CNBC Aubrey said she also reported the incident to the LDS bishop in her hometown, who quickly did Absolutely nothing. in the years that followed Aubrey wrote publicly about the experience without naming Trevor after the Hindenberurg report and Trevor's resignation from Niicola. She decided it was time to do so. The recent revelations, she said, pretty much confirmed what she had long believed that Trevor Milton was a sociopath. a narcissist and a pathological liar and that other people needed to know Unfortunately Several of them already did The second incident allegedly took place in two thousand four, and this is a woman who claimed that she was fifteen at the time and she had been hired by Milton to be an assistant at the security firm, which he had at the time thousand four. The unnamed woman had worked as an office assistant for Trevor Milton's security company in St. George She was fifteen twenty two She said Trevor, her boss, would often give her a ride home One day, he reportedly found out his young employee at this school So he told her he wouldn't tell anyone as long as she stayed late and watched a movie with him in the office's back room Ultimately Trevor ended up, quote, digitally penetrating her I had never worked for him another day And Im with home as shamed. The third woman came forward with a similar story after Aubrey's account and the second woman's allegations hit the news She alleged that Trevor Milton sexually assaulted her in twenty eleven. she was an eighteen year old model, whom Trevor had hired for a U pillar photo shoe Inincidentally, the shoot was out of town, she said Coincidentally, Tvor had booked only a single hotel room That night, according to the woman, Trevor climbed into her bed and groped her against her will She said she pushed him away. Trevor allegedly became angry, berated her and spent the rest of the night sleeping on the floor beside her Screenshots later posted to Twitter, appeared to capture part of a conversation between Trevor and the woman Did I make you uncomfortable? Trevor asked Yes, multiple times That's freaking messed up, Trevor replied I'm really sorry I need to be more careful I shouldn't have ever come onto you I should have just cuddled at most By the time the allegations became public Statute of limitations had expired in all three women's cases spokesperson. Trevor Milton denied what he called False allegations Nikola, the company had no comment It was too busy trying to chart a path to survival without its founder. partnerships with BP, which was unannounced public services and eventually general motors All fell apart The company announced it was scaling back its ambitions to focus on its core priorities Investors were unimpressed The stock price recoiled again on november tenth, twenty twenty, when Niicola revealed it had received a federal grand jury subpoena. from the Department of Justice It was just One thing this could mean Today, we announced charges against Trevor Milton. former CEO and executive chair peration. We charge that Milton engageed ed to enrich himself by making false and misleading statements to retail investors about the development of products and technology at Nicola Corporation. This is a very straightforward case Milton told lies to generate popular demand for Nicolas stock beginning at least in or about march twenty twenty When Nicola announced that its stock would become publicly listed Milton became increasingly preoccupied keeping Nicolas stock price high Trevor Milton was indicted on july twenty ninth, twenty twenty one. federal prosecutors in the southern District of New York charged him with three counts of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud alleging that he had used social media television appearances and podcasts. to saturate the market with false and misleading claims about Niicola in order to inflate the company's stock price as Nicla's largest shareholder. Milton stood the profit personally from every increase in value The indictment reads like a greatest hits compilation of his lies prorosecutors cited the unveiling of the Nicola onene infamous in motion video. company's non existent hydrogen production capabilities inflated pre order claims and countless other misrepresentations that painted Niichkel as a revolutionary company years before it could deliver on its promises Prosecutors later added another wire fraud charge, alleging that Milton persuaded the seller of an eight and a half million dollars ranch to accept Nekel' stock as part of the purchase price stock that ultimately became nearly worthless At the same time, the SEC filed a parallel civil securities fraud case against him Also new information tonight on what may be one of the biggest con jobs in automotive history with General motors Among the business partners They were taken for a ride. Billionaire tycoon who promised to revolutionize the trucking industry with electric vehicles now indicted for fraud Prosecutors saying Trevor Milton quote lied about nearly every aspect of the business. Trevor Milton pleaded not guilty and was released on one hundred million dollars bond. His attorney denounced the case in the statement This is a new law in the government's efforts to criminalize lawful business conduct Every executive in America should be horrified Milton's trial began in septtember twenty twenty two. Prosecutors portrayed him as a classic con man hiding behind modern technology. His lies may have been on social media. Assistant US A attorney Jordan Estis told the jury. No mistake. This was an old fashioned fraud accccording to the govern Milton's relentless stream of false and misleading statements cost to retail investors as much as six hundred seventy four million dollars Even that figure, prosecutors argued was conservative. If Nicollas' lost market capitalization were used instead Damage approached four billion dollars The defense was incredulous trial about tweets, A atttorney Mark Muquzy asked the jury I mean, really ost he argued were nothing more than marketing Prosecutors were distorting Milton's words, he said. His intentions, his meanings. So what if the company filmed a non functioning truck rolling downhill to make it look operational It's certainly not a crime to use Special effects, OKZ told the jury Otherwise the government would have to indict the energizer, Bunny inststead they P schoolool ellites in New York. and ded Trevor Milton, a quote rancher from Utah. who never set out to deceive anyone It wasn't motivated by spite, nastiness, ill will, or cruelty, Masey insisted, as if those had ever been required elements for fraud. and even if some of Milton's statements proved inaccurate defense's lone witness claimed they caused investors no measurable harm. trial went on like this for four weeks And then finally on october fourteenth, twenty twenty two After a little more than five hours of deliberation The jury found Trevor Milton guilty of one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud He was acquitted on the remaining securities fraud count, although several jurors later said they had been confused by the court's instructions and would have and should have convicted him on every count had they received a clarification Trevor Milton's sentencing hearing on december eighteenth, twenty twenty three was just as exhausting as his trial because Trevor Milton was given a chance to speak to give a long meandering monologue that ricocheted between God personal tragedy, claims of innocence and wrongful convictions He paused occasionally to dab tears from his eyes as he reflected on how third grade classmates made fun of him for crying while watching where the red fern grows I had an unusually tender heart, Trevor admitted I knew I would never be understood. Threvor explained he stepped down from Nickolida to take care of his wife who had Lyme's disease, not because of any fraud And then he reflected on his ancestry I am one quarter Cherokee There was ethnic cleansing against my ancestors My people were driven into Oklahoma The trauma is visible on reservations generational trauma ended with my mother She refused to pass it down to her children Funny enough, Hindenberurg research later back checked Milton's claims of Native American ancestry and found that his mother's side of the family was most likely Greek and that his great, great, great maternal grandfather, Isaac Jackson owned twenty four slaves In the end, forty two year old Trevor Milton was sentenced to four years in prison but remained free pending his immediate appeal It was the second time his team had attempted to have the conviction thrown out They originally argued that one of the jurors was biased when they discovered that she had a once tweeted, quote, tax the rich The restitution amount was also deferred until the court could determine the appropriate amount Prosecutors were sticking with its figure of six hundred million dollars plus In the meantime, Trevor Milton was allowed to stay home Do what he love to do play with this little phone. You can't fake this stuff when it's an open book. and Nicol was an open book. And that's one of the reason why you saw. if you guys ever followed the trial that I went through, the government never claimed that any of those investors were ever misled ever I mean The government's entire case was based on the fact that retail investors were misled. Repeatedly fact that every partnership dissolved after the lies were revealed made it seem like Nicholaas corporate investors We're also misled Surely no one possibly be dumb enough Believe this guy, right What's up guys? Oh my gosh Oh You won't believe just what happenensed Sorry' pretty hard for me to He just got a call from the President the United States He signed full and unconditional pardon in a sense, I am Three ers can no longer hurt me They can't destroy my family. They can't rip everything away from me. they can't ruin my life and one of the least surprising developments of all time On march twenty seventh, twenty twenty five Trevor Milton was pardoned by Pident Donald J. Trump Full and unconditional pardon which meant that Trevor would not have to compensate or repay anybody Any think In fact, Milton