
DOJ Probes EV Startup Nikola over Claims It Misled Investors - xibalba
https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-probes-electric-truck-startup-nikola-over-claims-it-misled-investors-11600199462
======
xibalba
Quick recap:

Sept 8 - Nikola and GM announce partnership [1]

Sept 10 - Hindenberg Research, a short seller, publishes damning report on
misrepresentations made by Nikola and its founder Trevor Milton [2]

Sept 14 - Milton/Nikola publish rebuttal to shortseller's claims [3]

Sept 14 - SEC probe in relation to shortseller's claims is reported [4]

Sept 15 - Hindenberg responds to Milton/Nikola rebuttal. Alleges that
substance of most allegations and questions were unaddressed by rebuttal [5]

Sept 15 - DOJ probe in relation to shortseller's claims is reported [6]

[1]
[https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/home.detail.html/content...](https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2020/sep/0908-gen2fcs.html)

[2]
[https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/](https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/)

[3] [https://nikolamotor.com/press_releases/nikola-sets-the-
recor...](https://nikolamotor.com/press_releases/nikola-sets-the-record-
straight-on-false-and-misleading-short-seller-report-96)

[4] [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-14/sec-
said-...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-14/sec-said-to-
examine-nikola-over-short-seller-s-fraud-allegations?sref=WJKVI5nK)

[5] [https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola-
response/](https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola-response/)

[6] [https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-probes-
elect...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-probes-electric-
truck-startup-nikola-over-claims-it-misled-investors-11600199462)

~~~
DobryMorozov
Trevor Milton also bought 14,000 shares today by pledging the shares he
currently owns as collateral and borrowing money. I think that this is the
beginning of the end.

~~~
samizdis
It rather seems that the beginning of the end was the desperate so-called
"deal" done with GM. It's nicely, or brutally, summed up in a Seeking Alpha
article [1]:

 _The deal shows Nikola doesn’t have any technology of its own, be it battery
technology or fuel cell technology.

The deal also shows that Nikola is willing to forego any possibility of an
economic return, just to further the story and pump the stock._

Arstechnica also has a piece [2] today about the deal.

[1] [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4374438-gm-and-nikola-
fine-...](https://seekingalpha.com/article/4374438-gm-and-nikola-fine-deal-
for-gm)

[2] [https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/09/why-gm-is-sticking-
with...](https://arstechnica.com/cars/2020/09/why-gm-is-sticking-with-nikola-
despite-fraud-allegations/)

------
nkurz
[https://archive.is/9OFq8](https://archive.is/9OFq8)

------
nickik
They clearly lied about things that are relevant to the stock. And when he was
directly speaking to investors.

------
hpkuarg
"The fraud cycle follows the business cycle."

