Trevor Milton, the founder and former chairman and CEO of electrical heavy truck maker Nikola, was discovered responsible in federal courtroom Friday of three of 4 counts of fraud regarding false statements he made to drive up the worth of Nikola’s inventory.

Milton was charged with two counts of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud, all associated to statements he made about Nikola’s enterprise whereas he was chairman and CEO of the corporate. Jurors discovered him responsible on one depend of securities fraud and each of the wire fraud counts.

Milton might be sentenced on Jan. 27. He confronted as much as 25 years in jail if convicted on all 4 counts.

“Trevor Milton lied to Nikola’s traders — over and again and again. That is fraud, plain and easy,” stated Damien Williams, the U.S. Lawyer for the Southern District of New York. Williams stated that the case in opposition to Milton ought to “function a warning” to others who make misrepresentations to traders.

“It will not finish effectively,” he stated.

WIlliams’ workplace in Manhattan had alleged that Milton lied about “practically all features of the enterprise” he based in 2014 throughout his time main the corporate. These lies, prosecutors stated, had been meant to induce traders to bid up the value of Nikola’s inventory.

“On the backs of these harmless traders taken in by his lies, he grew to become a billionaire just about in a single day,” Assistant U.S. Lawyer Nicolas Roos stated in his opening assertion in September.

Nikola’s inventory value briefly surged to over $90 per share in June 2020, simply days after it went public through a merger with a particular function acquisition firm. For a brief interval, Nikola — an organization with no income — was extra helpful than century-old Ford Motor.

That bold valuation did not final. Nikola’s shares fell sharply as soon as Milton was compelled out of the corporate in September 2020, after the corporate’s board of administrators discovered that a few of the fraud allegations made by short-seller Hindenburg Analysis had benefit.

The U.S. Division of Justice and the Securities and Alternate Fee each opened investigations within the months following Milton’s departure. In July 2021, a grand jury indicted Milton on three counts of fraud; a fourth depend was added in June 2022.

Nikola itself wasn’t dealing with expenses on this case. The SEC had introduced associated civil expenses in opposition to the corporate final 12 months. These expenses had been settled in December after Nikola agreed to pay a $125 million advantageous. Though Milton nonetheless owns Nikola inventory, the corporate had in any other case lower ties with him.