THE MORNING RANT: Utterly Predictable Fraud at “Zero Emission” Vehicle Startup, and the Prominent CEOs Who Fell for the Hoax

You’ll never believe this, but the founder of a snake oil “zero-emission” vehicle start-up is being tried in federal court for engaging in fraud against investors.

Nikola Motor Company had been promising zero-emission heavy trucks and various forms of zero-emission personal vehicles (including electric vehicles) for years, and because EV fanboys are so desperate to be seduced by smooth-talking confidence men promoting the EV vision, Nikola’s founder, Trevor Milton, had a huge number of people ready and willing to be fleeced to invest.

Nikola Corp. founder accused of fraud in trial's opening [AP – 9/13/2022]

In 2020, Nikola's stock price plunged and investors suffered heavy losses as reports questioned Milton's claims that the company had already produced zero-emission 18-wheel trucks fueled by hydrogen gas.

The company paid $125 million last year to settle a civil case against it by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Nikola, which continues to operate from an Arizona headquarters, didn’t admit any wrongdoing.

You’ve got to appreciate Milton’s moxie. Investors have been so brainwashed by the sustainable, green evangelizing of politicians and the media, that they were desperate to throw their money at Milton. He even produced a pretend vehicle to keep people excited.

In his opening, [US Attorney Nicolas Roos] promised that witnesses would show that Milton was committing fraud when he staged an “unveiling” of what he described as a fully functioning truck that was actually missing major parts like gears and motors and that had to be plugged into a wall's electrical socket to turn on its lights.

But there were videos of it rolling down the highway!

Well it was “rolling” all right. “Coasting” might be a more accurate term.

Roos said Milton “doubled down” with the fraud a year later when a video was released that showed the truck supposedly operating when it was really just rolling down a hill.

What about “pre-orders?” As I’ve written about recently, part of the EV scam is press releases, enthusiastically promoted by a credulous media, which generate excitement by talking about a huge number of pre-ordered vehicles.

Roos said Milton also was lying when he claimed billions of dollars in orders had been booked. In reality, the prosecutor said, 95% of the reservations were “just expressions of interest, but were reservations that could be canceled at any time.”

Here’s a short video with Mr. Milton repeatedly stating that “This is a real truck. This is not a “pusher’.” Real trucks produce their own propulsion. This one was propelled by gravity. It was not a real truck.

Speaking of People Duped by Nikola and Trevor Milton…

Among the gullible suckers duped by Mr. Milton was…the CEO of General Motors.

Trevor Milton founded buzzy EV company Nikola and positioned himself as the next Elon Musk—then his $34 billion house of cards came crashing down [Fortune – 9/13/2022]

He even duped a gullible General Motors, who signed a partnership just weeks before his elaborate ruse was uncovered.

When GM signed the deal, CEO Mary Barra failed to properly explain what technology her company was actually securing. Hindenburg Research was convinced GM merely looked to bask in the collective shine of its charismatic founder, “a forward-thinking, fresh, visionary entrepreneur capable of rivaling Elon Musk’s allure.”

GM has thousands of employees who could have quickly sniffed out this fraud, simply from their expertise in operating, designing, and manufacturing mass market vehicles. Unfortunately for GM, their CEO is not one of those employees.

Not only did Mary Barra take the bait on the Nikola fraud. She has swallowed the EV fad hook, line, and sinker, promising that GM will go 100% electric by 2035. Although I love to laugh at woke fools in corporate executive suites, it breaks my heart that Barra and her fellow GM executives are taking actions that will destroy a once-great company and put tens of thousands of American workers out of their jobs.

If anyone is working on a perpetual motion machine, or perhaps a machine that can spin straw into gold, give your contraption an eco-name of some sort, and then give Ms. Barra a call. You can bet she’ll throw some of GM’s remaining treasure at it.

And Still Speaking of Nikola and Awful CEOs

Did you notice that the Nikola truck in that video had the livery of US Xpress on it? But of course.

As I documented a couple weeks ago, US Xpress went woke in 2021 and now it’s in deep financial peril, furiously letting go of staff as its stock price tanks and it hemorrhages cash.

Mr. Fuller made it very clear that the focus of his leadership had nothing to do with shipping goods, or making a profit, but instead on things such as creating “a safe space for open dialogue about important issues that impact women, the LGBTQ+ community…”

Actually, you could predict exactly what happened next - the company started circling the drain. It had a massive financial loss in the first quarter of 2022 and then laid off about 5% of its workforce.

Did that cure US Xpress’ woes? No, it did not. Another awful quarter just led to another massive round of layoffs.

US Xpress’ death-by-mismanagement was clearly foretold when looking at old headlines such as this one from back in 2016…

U.S. Xpress to add Nikola’s hydrogen-electric truck [Fleet Owner – 12/13/2016]

U.S. Xpress Enterprises Inc. announced that the company is one of the first and the largest truckload carrier to order the Nikola One. The company said it expects the zero-emission, hydrogen-electric semi-truck will be a part of its fleet when the Nikola Motor Company starts production in 2020.

Seriously, is there an easier mark than a woke, left-wing CEO?

Songs of the Season

Enough about the EV scam. It’s Friday, and it’s the most wonderful time of the year – early Fall!

So whatever happened to Harvest Moon being a thing in early Fall? In my younger days, the first school dance was likely to be the Harvest Moon Dance. There were Harvest Moon festivals, and the first autumnal advertising was likely to invoke the Harvest Moon.

The Harvest Moon is usually in the latter part of September, and sometimes even in early October, but this year it came early, on September 10.

Here’s a beautiful version of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” that is fully compliant with Throckmorton’s Law. Have a great weekend!

”Harvest Moon” – The Brothers Comatose & A.J. Lee

(buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com)

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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