Review, Patreon Maxwell Book Schulte Book
w/ Exclusive Interviews by Matthew Russell Lee
SDNY Courthouse, Aug 30 – In September and October 2022 Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola Motor was put on trial for fraudulent claims about NKLA's hydrogen trucks.
On Friday, October 14, Milton was found guilty on three of four counts.
Published hours after the verdict was a book by Matthew Russell Lee, who live tweeted and reported on the trial daily, and put questions to Milton and his lawyers in Foley Square outside.
On December 14, Milton filed requesting a new trial - citing InnerCityPress.com "Book Interviews" published on October 16 and 17, 2022, see Milton's filing on DocumentCloud here.
On January 11, 2023, the US Attorney's Office wrote in, proposing that sentencing be in early May. Photo of letter here. Milton's Mukasey, citing a February 25 wedding, wants late spring or early summer.
On May 24 Mukasey wrote in again: "The sentencing issues to be hashed out in this matter are complex and the stakes are breathtakingly high. In order to permit Mr. Milton sufficient time to draft a comprehensive sentencing brief, we ask the Court to re-schedule the sentencing for early September 2023. To date, the government has not provided" - full letter on Patreon here.
On May 26, "Sentencing is adjourned to September 22, 2023."
But on August 15, Milton's lawyer wrote it asking to push sentencing back to the week of November 27, to get the US' position on loss amount.
On August 30, Judge Ramos denied Milton's motions: "OPINION AND ORDER as to Trevor Milton. The Government filed the initial indictment in this matter on July 28, 2021. Doc. 1. Following pre-trial motion practice, Milton proceeded to trial and was found guilty on three of the four counts of the superseding indictment(See Footnote 1 on this Opinion And Order) charging him with securities fraud and wire fraud. See Docs. 123, 213. Milton was found not guilty on the remaining count, which charged him with securities fraud. Doc. 213. Before the Court is Milton's motion for a new trial on the three counts of conviction pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 33, and a motion for a judgment of acquittal on Count Three, which charged wire fraud, pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29. Doc. 256. In short, Milton argues that a new trial is required because the jury was improperly instructed on the applicable law, and because Juror No. 6 was biased against him. Doc. 257 at 910. He also contends that acquittal is required on Count Three because the Government failed to prove that the object of the scheme at issue was obtaining money or property, as required by the wire fraud statute. Id. at 10. For the reasons set forth below, the motions are DENIED... Milton's motions are DENIED. The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to terminate the motion, Doc. 256. IT IS SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge Edgardo Ramos on 8/30/2023)."
On August 16, Judge Ramos pushed it to November 28: "MEMO ENDORSEMENT [284] LETTER MOTION addressed to Judge Edgardo Ramos from Marc L. Mukasey dated August 15, 2023 re: adjournment of sentencing as to Trevor Milton....ENDORSEMENT...The request is granted. The sentencing currently scheduled for September 22, 2023, is hereby rescheduled to Tuesday, November 28, 2023 at 3:30pm. SO ORDERED." Watch this site.
After Milton's December 14 filing, Inner City Press reached out to the juror about Milton's team's claims. She scoffed, "It’s an old Facebook post from 2017 like when Bernie ran And it was a repost from AOC not even my words Trevor wasn’t even on the radar then. And I liked Elon until he bought Twitter Taxing the rich isn’t the same as fraud Which I think makes sense anyways The funny thing is. I really don’t use social media. Like yeah my Facebook is active and Twitter and instagram but I don’t actively use them. I’ll never delete my Facebook because if my family needs me that’s how they reach me."
And on February 2, 2023, Milton's team filed a reply, quoting the above and equating skepticism about corporate fraud with racism, demanding a hearing or a new trial. They write: "her post-trial interviews - including one given recently about Mr. Milton's motions - demonstrate she understands perfectly well that the 'news' is not just YouTube and that "social media" includes Facebook and Twitter." Filing(s) are pending before Judge Ramos.
On January 23, Judge Ramos pushed Milton's sentencing back to June 21: "ORDER granting [261] LETTER MOTION request a revised post-trial briefing schedule and adjournment of sentencing. The revised post-trial briefing schedule is approved. Sentencing is adjourned to June 21, 2023 at 10 a.m. The Clerk of the Court is respectfully directed to terminate the motions, docs. 262 and 263. (Signed by Judge Edgardo Ramos on 1/23/2023)."
So how much change does Milton's appeal on this have?
The Monday after the Friday verdict, Inner City Press conducted a second interview, after a first, screen shots on Patreon here - and full version of 2d interview here and below.
On November 3, Milton's lawyer wrote to Judge Ramos asking for an extra month to file post-trial motions, saying he wants to review and analyze post-trial interviews of jurors: "
Dear Judge Ramos: This letter is respectfully submitted on behalf of defendant Trevor Milton to request a 30 day extension of time to file post-trial motions under Fed. R. Cr. P. 29 and Rule 33. At present, the motions are due on November 14, 2022. The additional 30 days would make the new submission date December 14, 2022. The extra time sought is necessary for two primary reasons. First, as the Court is aware, the trial record in this matter is extensive. Second, it has come to our attention that after the verdict, several jurors made comments and statements to the media and/or online concerning the trial and the deliberations. The defense believes these comments must be carefully reviewed and analyzed in connection with the post-trial motions. The government consents to this requested extension of time, although the abovementioned reasons for the request are solely those of the defense."
On November 4, without commenting of the relevance of jury interviews to the post-trial motions, Judge Ramos granted the 30 day extension: "MEMO ENDORSEMENT [250] LETTER MOTION addressed to Judge Edgardo Ramos from Marc L. Mukasey dated November 3, 2022 re: extension of time to file Rules 29 and 33 motions...ENDORSEMENT...The request for an initial, 30 day, extension of time to file post-trial motions under Fed.R.Crim.P.29 and 33 is granted. SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge Edgardo Ramos on 11/4/22)."
On December 14, three new lawyers filed notices of appearance for Milton. They filed a Motion for a New Trial and for acquittal on Count 3." The claims include that the jury instructions were unclear, that Juror 6 has "animosity toward corporate executives, and that the US failed to prove the "obtaining money or property" element of Count Three. Documents to follow. Watch this site.
Interviews: Juror #9, "V" - "Sure, Overall the entire trial was very dense in terms of information I myself I estimate took at least 50 pages of notes front and back. While Mr. Milton may not have liked the result he should know that he did in fact receive a completely fair trial in my opinion. Personally in my notes I did have to write "credibility?" and ultimately did not use two witnesses testimony in my deliberation reasoning due to the fact I just couldn't find them credible....
... Roughly for the first hour and a half absolutely no decision was made at all on any counts. Personally it began to feel like we may have been a hung jury.
"This is when we began to request a few pieces of evidence we did not take any notes on that we needed to break the ice. Once we received those aids deliberations became smoother albeit there were moments of silence here and there as we contemplated what a juror may have said or looked for a piece of evidence that contradicted or further supported what was said.
"That being said on Count 2 that I've seen many questions on after looking up to see what the public thought was he was close to being convicted he reached 2/3 requirements and we began discussing the third it was then that I re-read the charge and noticed that while similar to count 1 count 2 had to meet ALL requirements.
"When asking if anyone noticed any evidence to suggest the government had met this criteria we found they fell short. In regards to count four I just wanted to mention we in fact did not even like Mr. Hicks and personally I believe he is greedy, but examining the law Trevor was still in fact guilty." Full interview on Patreon here.
The case is US v. Milton, 21-cr-478 (Ramos)
Watch this site.
Lee was each day in the courtroom of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Edgardo Ramos, and venturing farther afield to investigate leads exclusively give to him and Inner City Press and by Nikola whistleblowers.
As the trial wound down, Inner City Press published descriptions of documented destroyed within Nikola, and guilty knowledge by officials still at the company.
Material from those whistleblowers, the trial and even some more speculative and literary excursions featuring recurring characters Kurt Wheelock and Michael Randall Long, featured in the Ghislaine Maxwell book "Maximum Maxwell" as noted by New York Magazine, here, made its way at the speed of the Internet into the new book
"Hydrogen Heist: The Trial of Nikola's Trevor Milton: On Fraud, Guilty of 3 of 4 Counts; From Musk and Tesla Wannabe to Convict in SDNY, by Matthew Russell Lee
This review will leave it to others to find over-reaches and typos. For his reporting, Lee was banned from the United Nations in 2018 by SG Antonio Guterres, whose Media Accrediation chief Melissa Fleming has ignored appeals from a UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and, pro bono, the law firm of Quinn Emanuel.
One might surmise that history leads to some of the book's (over?) identification with the defendant.
The case is US v. Milton, 21-cr-478 (Ramos)
A full scope instantaneous view of and taking off from trials like US v. Trevor Milton seems to be Inner City Press' project here.
And here it is.
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