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Nikola founder Trevor Milton found guilty of fraud

cnbc.com

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Re: Nikola founder Trevor Milton found guilty of fraud

#91

Post by [deleted] »

voakbasda wrote: post #89
sarchertech wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well he settled Securities Fraud charges, so it stands to reason there was likely securities fraud. He also had to step down as chairman, appoint 2 new independent directors, and appoint an independent board to oversee his public communications. If you paid a drug smuggling fine and as part of the process admitted to smuggling drugs, I might be inclined to label you a drug smuggler as well.

It is often cheaper to pay the fine than to fight it. A settlement is positively not an indicator of guilt. In the US, over 90% of cases settle. Do you really think that they are all guilty, or maybe some of them are railroaded by the system and coerced to plea? Let me answer that for you. Lots of innocent people plead to charges that they probably could beat, but the system has been corrupted beyond any reasonable h…

[deleted]

Re: Nikola founder Trevor Milton found guilty of fraud

#92

Post by skinnymuch »

simonh wrote: post #71
skinnymuch wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a common rhetoric by [neo]liberals like Bill Gates, Pinker (both friends with Epstein too…), Peterson, Bari Weiss. Pinker has at least one book wholly focused on this rhetoric. The problem is, this stuff could have been said 20, 50, or 150 years ago. Always can say “look at all the progress, why are people complaining about stuff”. And this is what has happened historically. People want to keep the status quo…

Dissatisfaction is the spur toward progress, but the point is there is progress. It's complaining that things are always getting worse, or even that progress isn't possible and things are always getting worse that winds me up. Maybe being in my 50s gives me a different view of it than those much younger.

I still don’t understand how what you wrote is different than what some people said 50 or 150 years ago. We now know from hindsight, the people who were doing your rhetoric in the past in enough circumstances where they wanted the status quo to remain as their life is going well enough. IE civil rights, suffrage, slavery, and so on.

The person who you responded to didn’t say things are always getting worse. They implied progress isn’t possible, but it was specifically about money. It’s not even about progress in general. Which were your issues.

I do agree the commenter was far too negative and being black and white. Especially for something as general as making money.

I wonder if age is the main reason. I know people more radical than me who are past 50. My principles personally have only been more reinforced since I was in HS. Which is 15+ years ago. World and politic views makes sense to me as the biggest reason for how both of us see this. Just my hunch, not saying you’re wrong.

Re: Nikola founder Trevor Milton found guilty of fraud

#93

Post by [deleted] »

rvz wrote: post #44
javawizard wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll bite. How so?

This is why [0] > The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that Elon Musk, CEO and Chairman of Silicon Valley-based Tesla Inc., has agreed to settle the securities fraud charge brought by the SEC against him last week. The SEC also today charged Tesla with failing to have required disclosure controls and procedures relating to Musk’s tweets, a charge that Tesla has agreed to settle. Essentially by agree…

[deleted]

Re: Nikola founder Trevor Milton found guilty of fraud

#94

Post by europeanguy »

0xy wrote: post #12
europeanguy wrote: post #3

[flagged]

"We think we can do self driving in a year" (very unrealistic prediction) versus "we have a working truck prototype" (literally false). Being an optimist isn't fraud.

That's one of the claims he made. Another one is

> This is something we can do _now_

(Referring to his self-driving truck convoy)

Re: Nikola founder Trevor Milton found guilty of fraud

#95

Post by europeanguy »

leobg wrote: post #7
zoklet-enjoyer wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He has comments from before this thread was created.

You are right. My bad. Had been fooled by the karma of 1, and not checked comment threads. Sorry.

No worries. I regularly drop old accounts because I don't like the fact that in HN you can't delete comments. That's really bad for privacy. So, I regularly changing accounts to prevent anyone from building a long profile from public history.

So yeah, the fact that I made a negative comment about Elon Musk and the fact that my account is new are totally unrelated.

Re: Nikola founder Trevor Milton found guilty of fraud

#96

Post by c7b »

bigtex wrote: post #84
c7b wrote: post #14

I remember that company from an FT article where they were forced to admit that they'd let their trucks roll down a gentle slope for promotional videos to give the impression that they could drive. Not surprised by this outcome, good if they get caught, albeit a bit late.

Now we need to apply the same scrutiny to the paint it black video that Tesla put out years ago to make people think FSD was right around the corner.

I don't know that video, but yes please, hold all companies equally accountable.

Re: Nikola founder Trevor Milton found guilty of fraud

#98

Post by kotaKat »

hef19898 wrote: post #53
missedthecue wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nikola is still a $1.3 billion company if you really want your mind blown.

That's the true insanity here. Did they ever sell a truck? In the meanwhile those un-innovative legacy manufacturers have the first working protypes on the road. And where is the Tesla Semi again?

All they've basically done is decided to work with Iveco to electrify existing S-Way trucks.

"As part of the cooperation – which incidentally includes CNH Industrial’s two commercial vehicles and drive brands Iveco and FPT Industrial – it will take over Nikola’s electrical technology and infotainment system. The semi will also be given a design jointly developed by Nikola and Italdesign."

Re: Nikola founder Trevor Milton found guilty of fraud

#99

Post by hef19898 »

kotaKat wrote: post #98
hef19898 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the true insanity here. Did they ever sell a truck? In the meanwhile those un-innovative legacy manufacturers have the first working protypes on the road. And where is the Tesla Semi again?

All they've basically done is decided to work with Iveco to electrify existing S-Way trucks. "As part of the cooperation – which incidentally includes CNH Industrial’s two commercial vehicles and drive brands Iveco and FPT Industrial – it will take over Nikola’s electrical technology and infotainment system. The semi will also be given a design jointly developed by Nikola and Italdesign."

So badge engineering and electrifying existing vehickes, at a shockingly low volume, and based on fraud to hyoe all that justifies a 1 billion evaluation nowadys. Nice.

Re: Nikola founder Trevor Milton found guilty of fraud

#100

Post by dang »

rvz wrote: post #40
sidcool wrote: post #16

Trevor deserves it. I have been following Nikola out of curiosity and there were glaring red flags all the way. So many inconsistencies across interviews. Repeatedly saying "It's not a pusher", "I can out Elon, Elon", "We are vertically integrated" bla bla.

Quoted post unavailable.

Would you please stop posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments to HN? We've had to ask you this more than once before. It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for.

Perhaps you don't owe $celebrity better, but you owe this community better if you're participating in it. If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and post in the intended spirit, we'd appreciate it.

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