Nikola Corp. shares plunged Thursday, following allegations from analysts at short-seller, Hindenburg Research, that the electric-truck startup is "an intricate fraud built on dozens of lies."
Hindenburg said it has evidence from phone calls, text messages and emails that reveals many false statements from the company's founder and CEO Trevor Milton. Hingdenburg notes that in one of those statements is a claim that Nikola's headquarters has "3.5 megawatts of solar panels on its roof producing energy" – something that is not supported by aerial photographs of the Phoenix, Arizona site. (according to Hindenburg).
"Trevor has managed to parlay these false statements made over the course of a decade into a ~$20 billion public company," Hindenburg wrote. "He has inked partnerships with some of the top auto companies in the world, all desperate to catch up to Tesla and to harness the EV wave.”