Nikola announced that its founder, Trevor Milton, is stepping down as chairman, following allegations of fraud at the company. Stephen Girsky, a former vice president of General Motors and a member of the American electric vehicle company's board of directors , has been appointed as executive chairman in Milton's place.
“Nikola is truly in blood and always will be, and the focus should be on the company and its mission to change the world, not on me. So I have made the difficult decision to voluntarily step down as executive chairman of the board,” said Trevor Milton.
The announcement comes a week after sales firm Hindenburg Research accused the company of lying about its products and dealings with other companies. The research firm called Nikola's operation an "elaborate fraud."
Hindenburg presented an emailMilton reportedly sent to potential investors in his former business, dHybrid, in which he appears to overstate the value of a deal with trucking company Swift Transport. An alleged copy of the contract included in the report suggests the deal is worth just $16 million, compared to Trevor Milton’s claims of $250 million.
According to information, the Ministry of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the allegations.
Nikola said that the report was designed to "provide false impressions to investors and negatively manipulate the market in order to benefit sellers, including Hindenburg."»
The founder of Nikola described the report as "successful work"».
General Motors (GM), which agreed to build Nikola’s electric truck in a $2 billion deal earlier this month, said on Sept. 14 that it was backing the company. GM Chief Executive Mary Barra told a conference call with RBC Capital Markets: “The company has worked with a lot of different partners, and we’re a very capable team that has done the due diligence.”
Nikola's shares fell by about 10% on the day the report was published, while they dropped 22% after the news of Trevor Milton's departure.
