Thread by @innercitypress

OK - now US v. Milton, #Nikola's Mark Russell still on direct examination, Inner City Press is covering the case and will live tweet, thread below. Yesterday's story: innercitypress.com/sdnytrial9niko… and off-road tale patreon.com/posts/literary…

All rise!
AUSA Estes: Yesterday you were asked about the Badger... This email calls the Badger a distraction. What was your understanding of that?
Russell: It would be a dilution of our focus.
AUSA: How so?
Russell: A pick-up would require time and money.

AUSA Estes: Mr. Russell did you have a concern about all this?
Milton's lawyer: Objection! Leading!
Judge Ramos: Overruled.
Russell: Yes, I was concerned.

AUSA: And did you vote for it?
Russell: Yes, I saw that it would pass. And we try to keep our board votes unanimous because --
Milton's lawyer: Objection!
Judge Ramos: Overruled.
Russell: The general rule is, you disagree behind closed doors.

Russell: The question was, why should be be in the pick-up truck space?
AUSA: After Nikola moved to go public through the SPAC, did you discuss with Mr. Milton his role?
Russell: Trevor said, I'm not sure the company if ready for me to step away

AUSA: How did you feel about that?
Milton's lawyer: Objection!
Judge Ramos: Overruled.
Russell: It wasn't what we agreed.
AUSA: Did you try to change it?
Russell: I did my best to persuade people. But he became executive chairman.

Russell: Then Trevor proposed that he be allowed to sell $70 million of his shares.
AUSA: Did you speak with Mr Milton about that it means to be the leader of a public company?
Russell: I told him his public statements had to be vetted like SEC filings

AUSA Estes: Let's review these text message --
Milton's lawyer Mukasey: Objection!
Judge Ramos: Overruled.
Mukasey: If I might, one of the recipients is not with Nikola. [Speaking objection]
Judge Ramos: Overruled.
AUSA Estes: Let's go over them...

Russell: The language in his tweets would not have passed muster with Legal.
Mukasey: Objection!
Judge Ramos: Overruled.
Russell: It was suggested to Trevor that he turn off his social media, or let Britton pre-screen his posts

AUSA Estes: Mr. Russell, were you on social media?
Russell: No.
AUSA Estes: So how did you see his tweets?
Russell: They showed me screen shots.

AUSA Estes: We offer GX22.
Mukasey: Hearsay, may we approach
Judge Ramos: You may.
[Whispered sidebar ensues]

AUSA Estes: When Mr. Girsky says, Trevor pretty active on social media about the Badger, what did you reply?
Russell: I wrote, I wish he wouldn't... We'd try to persuade him.
AUSA Estes: Did you have ideas with passwords?
Russell: We changed to company's passwords

AUSA Estes: Then what happened?
Russell: He talked to someone and got it reversed, he kept tweeting... Later he said he wanted to announce hydrogen stations on his media blitz.
AUSA: Which media blitz?
Russell: As soon as we went public.

Russell: Our market cap had gone from $3 billion to $27 billion in five days. Mr. Peterson (sp) said, This is setting up for a massive dive.
AUSA: And here, Michael Erickson wrote to you about Mr. Milton's social media, "It's news to me."
Russell: Yes.

Now on screen in courtroom (and before each juror), text exchange between Russell and Kim Brady, who said Rivian's CEO's post was a dig at Trevor.
Russell: Yes, it was. I cited Rivian as an example of raising capital without an aggressive social media campaign.

Russell: Mr. Milton said he thought this was a democratization of the capital markets. I told him we should vet this statements.
AUSA: Were you able to?
Russell: No.
AUSA: On stock price, how did you differ?
Russell: Trevor was focused on it day to day.

Now US plays Milton says, "People love Apple because everyone touches their product... I needed to touch the consumer, pick-up truck's for that, Robinhood investors, family office."
AUSA: What about Robinhood?
Russell: It was symbolic of the investors he targeted

AUSA: What was Mr. Milton purchasing?
Russell: Ranch land in Utah and Wyoming. And jets. I told him he should wait. We had no revenue.

Judge Ramos calls a break. Then, with jury out of room, asks, Are you planning to have a witness in a wheelchair later this week?
AUSA Estes: Yes.
Judge Ramos: Just tell us when. Don't be late.
Thread will continue.

They'd back.
AUSA Estes: Do you wish Nikola had taken down the link to the Tesla Charts podcast?
Russell: I wish we had. Elizabeth Fretheim flagged it.
AUSA: How about Transport Topics of March 12, 2022... Line 12... Was Nikola getting hydrogen at $4?
Russell: No.

AUSA Estes: Did you ask Mr. Milton to do on this podcast?
Russell: No.
AUSA: Did you give him talking points?
Russell: No.

AUSA: How would you describe your relationship with Mr. Milton at this time?
Russell: Strained. I thought the Badger was too big a risk. He continued to push it.
AUSA: Did you and Mr. Brady and Mr. Worthen speak to him?
Russell: We called it an intervention

AUSA: How did he respond?
Russell: He expressed emotional hurt. He told me to decide if he was on his side or not. I started considering resigning. But it would have created a crisis for the company. Soon the short seller report came out.

Russell: The chair told me the board would start negotiating with Mr. Milton for his exit.
AUSA: Nothing further.
Judge Ramos: Cross examination.
Milton's lawyer Mukasey: So she played you some podcasts, you recall?
Russell: Yes.
Mukasey: Nikola has models, right?

Mukasey: Trevor was pretend talented at promotion, correct?
Russell: Yes.
Mukasey: Are you familiar with the so called in-motion video, rolling a truck down a hill?
Russell: Yes.
Mukasey: The video was about the Nikola 1, right?
Russell: Right.

Mukasey: Trevor is 20 years younger than you, so has less experience, right?
Russell: Yes.
Mukasey: You were a mentor, right?
Russell: I tried to help him.

Mukasey: Would you say that the company was sort of like Trevor's child?
AUSA Estes: Objection! Calls for speculation.
Judge Ramos: Sustained as to the form of the question.
Mukasey: Would you say he had an emotion connection to the company?
Russell: Yes.

Mukasey: You considered the beer run [Busch trucking in Nikola 2] a great success right?
Russell: It came off just like we planned.
Mukasey: Let's talk about the board - one member came from Hanwha, right?
Russell: She's no longer on the board. But she was.

Mukasey: OK, so you announced about the SPAC merger in March 2020 and an S-4 was filed, right?
Russell: I haven't looked at the S-4 recently.
Mukasey: I'm offering it into the record.

Mukasey: Trevor's sale of $70 million in stock was disclosed, right?
Russell: It was.
Mukasey: This 10-Q says Nikola had Ernst & Young as auditor, right?
Russell: Yes.
Judge Ramos: Let's take a break.
Thread will continue, and stories incl patreon.com/posts/literary…

They've back.
Mukasey: You are familiary with Elon Musk's presence on Twitter, correct?
AUSA Estes: Objection!
Judge Ramos: Overruled.
Russell: I am aware.

Mukasey: The meeting with Softbank, there was a lot of puffing, right?
Russell: What do you mean by puffing?
Mukasey: Didn't you tell the US Attorney's Office that he didn't make any factual misrepresentations?
AUSA: Objection!
Judge Ramos: Overruled.

Russell: He went off-script in the Softbank meeting. But I don't remember any factual misrepresentations.
Mukasey: In some of this, you use the present tense - you weren't trying to mislead anyone, were you?
Russell: No, I was not.

Mukasey: Your shares, how much are they worth?
Russell: I'm not sure. Yesterday, $19 to 20 million. I mean, 190 to 200 million dollars.
[Some jurors perk up]
Judge Ramos: You mentioned Black-Scholes, what is it?
Russell: A way of calculating the value of shares.

Mukasey: In this podcast, Trevor says You want the Robinhood investors, but you want to turn them into Warren Buffetts, long time buy and hold, right?
Russell: Yes.
Mukasey: You realize the podcasts are very long, right?
Russell: Extremely long.

Mukasey: You agree that if someone snipped a little portion of one of your interviews, it could distort --
AUSA Estes: Objection!
Judge Ramos: Sustained.

Mukasey: While you say you had concerns strategically about the Badger, it was bad ass, right? Better than [Musk's / Tesla's] CyberTruck?
Russell: I liked the way it looked.
Mukasey: In the industry, it's normal to use donor parts, right?
Russell: Yes.

Mukasey: Nikola got a grand jury subpoena and agreed to cooperate with the government, right?
Russell: We provided a lot of documents.
Mukasey: We asked to meet with you, and you declined, right?
Russell: I did. On advice of counsel.

Mukasey shows video of Russell pitching Nikola semi, saying "we made the hydrogen in the first place." You didn't mean to mislead, did you?
Russell: I did not.
Mukasey: When did the intervention take place?
Russell: I didn't keep notes.

Mukasey: No further questions.
And after a short re-direct, next witness is Stephanie Amzallag.
AUSA: Where do you work?
Amzallag: Nikola, in social media, since March 2019.