Nikola founder Trevor Milton pled not responsible to fraud costs in a Manhattan courtroom Thursday afternoon after federal prosecutors accused him of deceptive traders in regards to the capabilities and applied sciences of the electrical automobile start-up.

Miton, who resigned as chairman in September, was freed on a $100 million bond secured in opposition to two of his Utah properties valued at $40 million. He’s barred from contacting traders and was issued journey restrictions by the courtroom. It was his first main look since resigning from the corporate and deleting his social media accounts.

A federal grand jury charged Milton with three counts of felony fraud for mendacity about “almost all points of the enterprise” to bolster inventory gross sales of the electrical automobile start-up, in response to an indictment unsealed Thursday.

Milton’s attorneys vehemently defended his innocence.

His authorized staff, led by Brad Bondi, stated Milton was “wrongfully accused following a defective and incompetent investigation,” and that justice will not be served till he is exonerated, in response to an emailed assertion despatched Thursday.

Learn the complete assertion from Milton’s authorized staff:

The grand jury stated Milton ought to forfeit all property “traceable to the fee of stated offenses,” which might probably embrace the greater than $1 billion he earned when Nikola went public in June 2020.

Shares of Nikola had been down by as a lot as 11% throughout early buying and selling Thursday. The inventory was buying and selling at $12.73 a share, down by 10.3% as of midafternoon.

The Securities and Change Fee additionally filed civil securities fraud costs in opposition to Milton on Thursday. The SEC requested the U.S. District Court docket of the Southern District of New York to completely bar him from appearing as an officer at an organization that points securities, to disgorge all ill-gotten positive factors and pay a nice.