Nikola Founder Trevor Milton Convicted of Securities Fraud

A federal jury in New York convicted Nikola founder Trevor Milton of securities fraud for what prosecutors said were his repeated lies about the development of the company’s zero-emissions trucks and technology.

Friday’s guilty verdict caps the downfall of Mr. Milton, who founded Nikola in his basement in 2015 and took it public in 2020 at a valuation of $3.3 billion, when the company hadn’t sold a single truck. The company’s market valuation briefly exceeded that of industry giants such as Ford Motor Co.