Nikola founder faces ranch forfeiture following fraud conviction Try not to weep into your morning coffee, but convicted fraudster Trevor Milton might lose a ranch that a fresh filing claims he bought after lying to its owner "about Nikola's business" to persuade the man to sell to him. Ultimately, yesterday's order contends, Utah landowner Peter Hicks was indeed persuaded, and sold it in …
https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/
Icon... because well, they blew up a house of cards.
Also... Nikola was a SPAC listing. I don't think there's been too many SPACs that weren't outright fraud and/or just fizzled, leaving the fresh new owners of that SPAC's stock (lots of retail investors) holding a bag of shit.
I don't think there's been too many SPACs that weren't outright fraud
"So here's the deal, guys: You give me a bunch of money, and I'll spend it buying other companies, which I will then raid for assets before disappearing into the sunset. In exchange you will hold shares in my asset-less company."
I mean, it's an enticing offer.
Being able to transport heavy loads energy free over half of all possible directed traversals of hilly roads is a major success! The battle is already half won! Trevor will always have that trophy on his shelf, and be able to say "if only they let had me finish the job!". The nay sayers won't keep a good man down. He'll find a way to get a hitch back up again.
But the thing is.... It is possible to do. On a shoe string budget no less without getting a bunch of gullible fools investors by building the sort of thing a customer wants. Eddison Motors having done just that, they've done a retro conversion, then a new build prototype (it goes, it tows, it's in heavy testing now with warts and all being recorded because you can learn from failures), they're making money building portable lighting rigs and actively engaging with a small number of customers to work on further concepts once the prototype has proven itself (by concepts we're not talking pure haulage trucks, but utility vehicles - cement mixers, logging trucks, bower trucks etc etc).
They've also built it as a diesel electric - which at the end of the day the generator can run any fuel you like and is more there to ensure it can always move.
When's the full Tesla self driving (that actually works) going to be released? How many people have died because of Musk's outright lies regarding the capabilities of Tesla vehicles?
Or the self driving robo taxis that will earn their owners $30,000 a year?
How many years has he been promising the semi? Is that in production yet?
Milton may have told some porkies, but it appears his truck is now in production. And yet he went down.
On the other hand, Musk continues to tell some absolute whoppers, and people have died as a result, yet he skates.
If you can't see the disparity in the way they are being treated, I can only assume you're a total Musk fan-boi. And I'm not a fan of Milton - I just don't understand why Musk is getting away scot-free with all his bullshit.
The Badger pickup trucks do have some prototypes, one apparently even moves on it's own. Dave Sparks, he of the Diesel Brothers TV show and a EPA emissions suit fame has bought the IP rights to the Badger, an e-ATV & e-Jetskis from Nikola. He has also stated a third-party built the Badger prototypes, but won't reveal who that is.
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