Prosecutors in the U.S. want to see Nikola founder Trevor Milton sent to prison for 11 years after he was found guilty of defrauding investors in a trial last October.
Milton was found guilty of two counts of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud last year and was originally due to be sentenced this past January. He is now scheduled to be sentenced on December 18 and prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos to give him a punishment in line with the 11-year prison term recommended by the probation department.
Reuters notes that prosecutors compared Milton to Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes who was sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in November 2022. “Just as Holmes lied about Theranos-manufactured blood analyzers, Milton lied about the operability of the Nikola One semi-truck,” they said.
However, Milton has insisted that the judge not compare him to Holmes, noting that Nikola is a “real company with real products.” He wants probation and claims his statements were made from a “deeply-held optimism” about the company.
Read: Two More Nikola Trucks Catch Fire In A Week, Capping Off Bad Summer For The Startup
During last year’s five-week trial, the prosecution called more than a dozen witnesses including Nikola chief executive and chief financial officer Kim Brady who claimed Milton was reluctant to temper his public remarks and was fixated on the firm’s stock price. Prosecutors also alleged that Nikola had falsely claimed to have built a revolutionary new semi-truck when all it had was a General Motors product with a Nikola logo.
Milton was also accused of using social media and interviews with news outlets to make false and misleading claims, including assertions that the firm had made the Badger pickup truck from the “ground up.”
