As if a 50-page motion for probation was insufficient, convicted Nikola founder Trevor Milton is asking his trial judge to let him use testimony from a failed arbitration case with the company to add to his plea for leniency.
Nikola opposes that idea.
Milton now faces sentencing Dec. 18 on three federal fraud convictions related to lying about the technical accomplishments and prowess of the electric truck company he founded in 2015. It was the fourth delay in his sentencing.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed it should be pushed out again. U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos in New York agreed to the reset.
A jury found Milton guilty in October 2022.
Defense seeks arbitration testimony from top Nikola executives
Milton’s defense lawyers asked Ramos to allow use of testimony from a recently concluded arbitration case between Milton and Nikola. Arbitrators ruled Milton should pay the company $165 million. Part of that would cover a $125 million Securities and Exchange Commission fine. The company agreed to pay that amount in December 2021 for Milton’s misdeeds.
They want arbitration testimony by current CEO and former Chairman Steve Girsky, former CEO Mark Russell, former CFO Kim Brady, and others.
Following a hearing last Thursday on a protective order Nikola sought in June 2022 to protect company secrets and conversations spilling out in Milton’s trial, the defense asked for the arbitration material so Milton could file an addendum to his plea for probation. In the letter to Ramos on Monday, they said Nikola did not respond.
“The attempt to tie this request to Milton’s sentencing so as to generate urgency is contrived … witness statements in another proceeding that Milton lost do not go to the issues … at sentencing,” Nikola attorneys wrote to the judge. The arbitration testimony remains non-public.
Ramos asked both sides to provide him an update on their discussions by the end of the day Tuesday.
Editor’s note: Updates with Milton sentencing delayed to Dec. 18.
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