The Unraveling of Trevor Milton, Ep 1: “Hey, Buddy”

Bad Bets

The Wall Street Journal

News, Business, True Crime

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2022

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Trevor Milton sold a promise—a zero-emissions semi truck that could revolutionize the trucking industry. He also sold himself as the visionary founder capable of delivering on that promise. In this episode, we take you back to Trevor’s early years as an entrepreneur, and you’ll hear from some of the people who helped him build the businesses that came before Nikola. Ben Foldy is the host of this season of Bad Bets. Bad Bets is a production of The Wall Street Journal. This season is produced with Jigsaw Productions, in collaboration with Story Force Entertainment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Techno's briefing is supported by FTI Consulting.
0:03.4	From the world's largest cyber breaches to global fraud investigations,
0:06.8	FTI Consulting is the number one expert-based firm organizations
0:10.7	turn to and there are moments of truth.
0:13.2	Learn more at FTIconsulting.com.
0:16.4	Oh, that thing is so awesome.
0:22.4	Oh, we've been waiting so long to show this to the world.
0:33.4	Even though ideas decide it's hard to even contain my emotion about this.
0:39.4	I was watching this video recently sitting in a courtroom in Manhattan.
0:43.4	It was being presented as evidence in one of the biggest white collar fraud trials in recent years.
0:48.4	The video is from 2016. The man Trevor Milton.
0:51.4	He's young, fit, jowled up hair.
0:53.4	And the thing he's getting so emotional about in front of hundreds of people is a semi-truck.
0:57.4	It sits behind him on the stage, white and gleaming.
1:00.4	The company's name, Nikola, shining from its grill.
1:03.4	It looks like it drove off the set of a sci-fi movie.
1:05.4	And this truck will come to market.
1:07.4	I can promise you that for every doubt or out there that said that there's no way this is true.
1:11.4	Abs, how can that be possible we've done it?
1:14.4	It's my pleasure to actually let you guys enjoy the night, see the truck, know it's real, touch it, feel how sturdy it is.
1:19.4	You're going to see that this is a real truck. This is not a pusher.
1:23.4	Thank you so much, everyone. I appreciate it. Thank you.
	...

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