Trevor Milton, the Elon Musk wannabe, is jailed for fraud

The former CEO of Nikola, Trevor Milton, has been found guilty of lying about the development of the company's electric trucks.

Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola Corp., exits court in New York, US, on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. Milton was ordered to spend four years behind bars for lying to shareholders about the electric-truck maker's progress. Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg
(Image credit: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In 2018, the CEO of Nikola, an upstart company seeking to make viable electric- and hydrogen-powered lorries, released a promotional video of its prototype Nikola One truck, which appeared to drive under its own power, says Tech Crunch. In reality, it was rolling down a hill. That video sparked investigations by Hindenburg Research, which called the company a fraud. 

In December 2023, that drama came to a close when Trevor Milton, the disgraced founder and former CEO of the company, was found guilty of lying to investors about the development of Nikola’s electric trucks in order to inflate the stock price and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Explore More

Jane writes profiles for MoneyWeek and is city editor of The Week. A former British Society of Magazine Editors editor of the year, she cut her teeth in journalism editing The Daily Telegraph’s Letters page and writing gossip for the London Evening Standard – while contributing to a kaleidoscopic range of business magazines including Personnel Today, Edge, Microscope, Computing, PC Business World, and Business & Finance.

She has edited corporate publications for accountants BDO, business psychologists YSC Consulting, and the law firm Stephenson Harwood – also enjoying a stint as a researcher for the due diligence department of a global risk advisory firm.

Her sole book to date, Stay or Go? (2016), rehearsed the arguments on both sides of the EU referendum.

She lives in north London, has a degree in modern history from Trinity College, Oxford, and is currently learning to play the drums.