Nikola’s founder Trevor Milton is locked in a legal battle over a subpoena from the creditors of Nikola’s bankrupt electric trucking business.
The official committee of unsecured creditors served Milton’s lawyers with the subpoena on April 1. Milton owed nearly $100 million before Nikola filed for bankruptcy in February, following an arbitration case he lost tied to his criminal conviction.
The creditors want to know Milton’s current financial situation because he still hasn’t paid. 
Before the bankruptcy, Nikola sued Milton in federal court in Arizona. They claim Milton “fraudulently transferred away tens of millions of dollars of his assets” to block Nikola from collecting the arbitration award.
Milton has spent the last two months fighting the subpoena. His lawyers argue the materials are covered by a protective order in the Arizona case.
The dispute heads to a hearing scheduled for June 9.
Lawyers for both sides have not responded to comment requests.
Most of Nikola’s assets are already sold. Lucid Motors bought the leases on Nikola’s factory and hired about 300 workers. An auction house bought Nikola’s remaining hydrogen trucks.
The arbitration award is one of the biggest remaining assets.
Nikola also faced a shareholder lawsuit over misleading claims during its public listing. The SEC settled with Nikola, but the shareholder case continued into bankruptcy.
The bankruptcy plan was to use Milton’s arbitration award to pay off shareholders. The creditors say Milton “has yet to pay a cent.”
Milton was appealing his four-year prison sentence when President Trump granted him a surprise pardon. Soon after, Nikola’s lawyers accused him of trying to disrupt the bankruptcy.
Meanwhile, Milton commissioned a documentary set to premiere on June 10. It aims to expose how the “justice system” nearly destroyed him.
Trevor Milton stated:
“true story about how the so called ‘justice system’ nearly destroyed an innocent man.”
