Nikola founder’s jurors may see ‘truck rolling down hill’ video at trial

Trevor Milton, founder and former-CEO of Nikola Corp., (L) exits the Manhattan Federal Courthouse following an look in New York Metropolis, U.S., July 29, 2021. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

NEW YORK, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Jurors at Nikola Corp (NKLA.O) founder Trevor Milton’s fraud trial beginning subsequent week will probably be allowed to look at a advertising video that prosecutors stated exhibits a truck showing to drive by itself energy when it was really rolling down a hill, a decide dominated on Thursday.

The ruling got here after U.S. District Decide Edgardo Ramos additionally rejected Milton’s motions to dismiss an indictment accusing the previous billionaire of mendacity to traders in regards to the electric- and hydrogen-powered automaker’s progress in creating its know-how beginning in 2019.

Milton, 40, has pleaded not responsible. Jury choice is anticipated to start on Monday for his trial, which is anticipated to final 5 weeks.

Prosecutors stated Milton’s deceptive statements included assertions that Nikola had early success in making a “Nikola One” semi-truck prototype he knew didn’t work. learn extra

Audrey Strauss, the highest federal prosecutor in Manhattan on the time of Milton’s July 2021 arrest, had stated the closest the Nikola One ever got here to driving was when engineers rolled a prototype down a hill so it might be filmed for a industrial.

Milton’s lawyer Bradley Bondi had sought to have the 2017 video excluded from the trial, saying it was filmed earlier than the alleged wrongdoing described within the indictment, and that Milton had acknowledged the truck had not operated beneath its personal energy.

“They need to carry it in as a result of they need to inflame the jury,” Bondi instructed the decide, calling the video a “sideshow circus.”

Ramos sided with prosecutors, calling the video “direct proof” of the fees in opposition to Milton.

Nikola has stated an outdoor get together shot the video for a industrial, and the truck was by no means described as “beneath its personal propulsion.”

Final December, Nikola agreed to pay $125 million to settle U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee civil fees that it misled traders about its know-how and prospects. It didn’t admit or deny wrongdoing. learn extra

Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; modifying by Diane Craft

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