DOJ Probes EV Startup Nikola over Claims It Misled Investors

wsj.com

17 points·xibalba··6 comments

Quick recap:

Sept 8 - Nikola and GM announce partnership [1]

Sept 10 - Hindenberg Research, a short seller, publishes damning report on misrepresentations made by Nikola and its founder Trevor Milton [2]

Sept 14 - Milton/Nikola publish rebuttal to shortseller's claims [3]

Sept 14 - SEC probe in relation to shortseller's claims is reported [4]

Sept 15 - Hindenberg responds to Milton/Nikola rebuttal. Alleges that substance of most allegations and questions were unaddressed by rebuttal [5]

Sept 15 - DOJ probe in relation to shortseller's claims is reported [6]

[1] https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/home.detail.html/content...

[2] https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/

[3] https://nikolamotor.com/press_releases/nikola-sets-the-recor...

[4] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-14/sec-said-...

[5] https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola-response/

[6] https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-probes-elect...

Trevor Milton also bought 14,000 shares today by pledging the shares he currently owns as collateral and borrowing money. I think that this is the beginning of the end.

It rather seems that the beginning of the end was the desperate so-called "deal" done with GM. It's nicely, or brutally, summed up in a Seeking Alpha article [1]:

The deal shows Nikola doesn’t have any technology of its own, be it battery technology or fuel cell technology.

The deal also shows that Nikola is willing to forego any possibility of an economic return, just to further the story and pump the stock.

Arstechnica also has a piece [2] today about the deal.

[1] https://seekingalpha.com/article/4374438-gm-and-nikola-fine-...

[2] https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/09/why-gm-is-sticking-with...

https://archive.is/9OFq8

They clearly lied about things that are relevant to the stock. And when he was directly speaking to investors.

"The fraud cycle follows the business cycle."

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