Nikola Founder Seeks New Trial, Says Juror Concealed Bias Against Wealthy

Nikola Corp founder Trevor Milton questioned a decide in New York on Thursday to overturn his conviction on costs of defrauding traders in the electric powered car or truck company, stating a juror who determined the scenario concealed her bias versus the ultrawealthy.

Milton told U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos in courtroom papers that the juror’s Twitter and Fb pages had been “riddled with assaults on wealthy executives” inspite of denying during jury assortment that she utilised social media.

A Manhattan federal jury convicted Milton at a demo in Oct, soon after prosecutors said Milton, 40, grew to become a billionaire by lying to investors about the electric powered- and hydrogen-driven truck maker’s engineering starting in November 2019.

Prosecutors accused Milton of employing social media and interviews on tv, podcasts and in print to make bogus and deceptive statements, which include that Nikola constructed an electric powered- and hydrogen-powered “Badger” pickup from the “floor up.”

At trial, Milton was convicted on 1 depend of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud. He was acquitted on an additional depend of securities fraud.

In court docket papers on Thursday, Milton reported that just one juror had mentioned throughout jury assortment that she did not use social media and received her news by way of YouTube.

But a overview of what Milton claimed had been her social media accounts implied that she go through many information sources and confirmed that she had posted about profits inequality, Milton explained.

“Three text: tax the rich,” read one write-up that compared Jeff Bezos’ and Mark Zuckerberg’s 12-determine fortunes with minimum wage charges in the United States, in accordance to courtroom papers.

If the judge does not grant a new demo, he must keep a hearing to query the juror about no matter if she lied in courtroom, Milton wrote.

Milton also questioned the decide to grant him acquittal on the wire fraud depend similar to buyers, indicating prosecutors had not proved their situation.