A prosecutor within the fraud trial of Nikola founder Trevor Milton has asserted that the businessman solely turned a billionaire by mendacity to buyers in regards to the firm.

Milton has been charged with two counts of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud and has pleaded not responsible. Prosecutors within the trial declare that he sought to deceive buyers about Nikola’s expertise beginning in November 2019 till he left his put up on the firm in September 2020.

“He lied to dupe harmless buyers into shopping for his firm’s inventory,” Assistant U.S. Lawyer Nicolas Roos informed the U.S. District Courtroom in New York. “On the backs of these harmless buyers taken in by his lies, he turned a billionaire nearly in a single day.”

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It’s alleged that the 40-year-old made false statements about Nikola’s progress in growing its hydrogen and electrical applied sciences. Prosecutors declare the statements made on social media and in podcasts by Milton focused retail buyers who subsequently invested within the firm throughout COVID-19.

In December, Nikola agreed to pay $125 million to settle U.S. Securities and Change Fee claims that the corporate defrauded buyers by deceptive them about its applied sciences, merchandise, and prospects, Reuters stories.

Milton’s lawyer, Marc Mukasey, says that his consumer was merely expressing a imaginative and prescient about the way forward for trucking and that he didn’t mislead buyers. He additionally took intention at a video proven by prosecutors to jurors that infamously confirmed a Nikola truck showing to drive beneath its personal energy when the truth is it was rolling down a hill.

“So far as I do know, it’s not a federal crime to make use of particular results in a automotive industrial,” Mukasey mentioned whereas calling the case “prosecution by distortion.”

Nikola has spent greater than $20 million on Milton’s ongoing authorized protection.