Thread by @HindenburgRes

Trevor Milton, billionaire founder of $NKLA, is currently on trial for fraud.

Shortly after his hydrogen truck company was exposed, an army of hackers and spies started targeting his critics and whistleblowers.

Here's what happened & how we turned the tables.

(1/x)

In September 2020, we reported that $NKLA's hydrogen truck tech was too good to be true.

The report included evidence from a key anonymous whistleblower: @InsiderNikola

Milton was subsequently criminally charged with fraud.

(2/x)

In Oct. 2020, a month after our report, we learned that a former Nikola employee had his phone account hacked and his messages & emails breached.

He was not a whistleblower for our report, but fit the description of a potential whistleblower who Trevor may have suspected.
(3/x)

The former Nikola employee later told us that the retired head of New York’s DEA office, James Hunt, was knocking on doors in Utah, flashing his DEA badge and asking former colleagues questions about him.

(4/x)

Hindenburg founder @ClarityToast had also learned from colleagues that private investigators were doing reference checks on him.

Within about a week of all this, key whistleblower @InsiderNikola received a very suspicious email.

(5/x)

The @InsiderNikola whistleblower had used Twitter to call out Trevor Milton’s numerous lies.

He also had an anonymous ProtonMail email account tied to the Twitter account. (6/x)

In early October, whistleblower @InsiderNikola got an email from a woman named “Natalia” who claimed to be a journalist with access to The Guardian.

She emailed from a Gmail account with the username “Natalia007”.

(7/x)

.@InsiderNikola suspected the email was a ruse to discern his identity.

It was clunky, but concerning & had a suspicious link.

We contacted @jsrailton of Citizen Lab, an expert in cyber espionage & hacking against civil society & whistleblowers, for help.

(8/x)

Elements of the link seemed broken by the time @jsrailton examined it, but it had hallmarks of a social engineering attempt, and possibly phishing.

We thought we should ignore the email and just be on guard, but @jsrailton suggested:

"What if we engage instead?"

(9/x)

After all, @jsrailton has experiencing turning the tables on mercenary spies.

Through his work exposing cyber arms dealers, he was targeted by the private spies at Black Cube.

Then, he ran a high-profile sting on them.

(10/x)

Engaging with Natalia definitely seemed the more interesting path...

@InsiderNikola responded back, and Natalia re-affirmed that she could get a positive article in “the Guardians”.

(11/x)

Natalia also promised a source who had damning “documents, memos, video and audio files”.

The catch: The “source” would only meet with our anonymous whistleblower in person.

(12/x)

The premise of a meeting between anonymous sources made no sense.

Surely it would be better to contact @WSJ or another media outlet covering the Nikola fraud story, us @HindenburgRes, or just call the feds?

(13/x)

So of course, we agreed to meet.

The plan: @ClarityToast & @jsrailton would go to the meeting in lieu of the whistleblower, see who turned up, play out the deception & then confront them.

(14/x)

Natalia promised to bring the “source”, a USB drive with the information, and “one sealed Manila folder with original documents that are in his possession.”

(15/x)

Natalia wanted to meet on the West Coast, but we pushed for NYC, saying we were in town visiting family.

She proposed 10:30 AM at Carl Shurz Park on the Upper East side, near the Mayor’s mansion.

(16/x)

We then enlisted @igor_ostrovskiy, a surveillance expert who was once hired by Black Cube to spy on Ronan Farrow on behalf of Harvey Weinstein.

(Igor instead blew the whistle, exposing Black Cube to Farrow, documented in the book “Catch and Kill”)

(17/x)

Igor would arrange for a team to run counter-surveillance, then tail the team with Natalia.

Igor’s reaction to her location proposal: bad idea. Few entrances, often empty. Easy for the other side to maintain operational control.

(18/x)

The park was also close to the Mayor’s mansion. If they staffed the job with local ex-police they could run interference on anyone we brought, ask what they are doing there, ask why they are filming, etc. (19/x)

Igor suggested Madison Square Park: wide open, lots of people. Impossible to maintain operational control.

The location was scouted, finding 6 tables near the south of the park & the direction to face for the best lighting for our hidden cameras, given the sun.

(20/x)

Meanwhile, as the meeting neared, Natalia requested that we switch from email to messaging.

Given the potential to unmask us, @jsrailton devised an elaborate burner setup to make it hard to locate the handset or identify the owner.

(21/x)

Day of the meeting: We had a staging area at a nearby hotel where we got set up with buttonhole cameras & audio.

@ClarityToast brought a shirt with black buttons, which were then cut off - the top 2 replaced with cameras & the rest re-stitched with matching ones.

(22/x)

We texted Natalia & said @InsiderNikola actually had several contributors & we’d feel more comfortable if another person joined.

She agreed—from their perspective it was 2 whistleblowers for the price of 1. @jsrailton was in as our 2nd “whistleblower” and was wired too.
(23/x)

We also had a water bottle camera & someone whose job was to sit at a parallel table, face the bottle camera toward our table and talk as though she was on the phone.

A camera crew would be ready in a nearby van to jump out when we gave the signal.

(24/x)

This was all during peak Covid, so we were all masked, and figured they couldn’t ID us (or vice versa) with masks on. This would pose a challenge for both sides.

(25/x)

We went to the park & waited, but Natalia was a no-show.

20 mins passed & finally she texted us: “I’m here already”.

She tried to move us to another part of the park. (We suspect this was to disrupt potential countersurveillance efforts.)

We declined & insisted she join us.

Eventually, a woman w/ a strong Eastern European accent came up to us. She was incredibly nervous.

We asked Natalia where her source was. She said he was waiting nearby while she vetted us.

But she asked us no questions, so we started asking about her backstory...

(27/x)

She said she flew from FL the night before.
We asked her:
Q: As a journalist, where do you publish?
A: ‘The internet’
Q: How did you meet your source?
A: ‘The internet’
Q: Have you seen the damning documents on Trevor?
A: ‘Uhh, sort of. Really quickly on a Zoom call’

(28/x)

Natalia’s backstory had fallen apart fast.

She’d come all the way from Florida to introduce a source she’d never met, to show documents she’d barely seen, and had gotten the job because she was a journalist publishing vague articles on “the internet”?

(29/x)

Eventually, the “source” showed up, looked around suspiciously & sat.

He didn’t bring a sealed manila envelope, but said he had a USB with ‘lots of documents’.

His backstory was more credible…he claimed to be a systems admin at Nikola who wanted to get the word out.

(30/x)

Throughout our conversation, the “source” kept leaning in, cupping his ear, saying he was having a hard time hearing us. (Smooth, right?)

He was very interested in whether we’d spoken to the government, or to journalists.

(31/x)

Eventually, the “source” dropped this line: ‘Listen guys, I’m having a really hard time hearing you. Maybe it would help if you take your masks off?’

This led to a negotiation - we agreed to take our masks off if they took theirs off & gave us the USB. They agreed.

(32/x)

We all got what we were looking for (identification & the USB drive). A calm settled over the table.

Previously, Natalia had asked how she'd recognize us in the park. @ClarityToast said he would wear a Nikola hat.

At this point he gave “the signal”, taking the hat off. (33/x)

The camera crew leapt from the van and headed towards us. @ClarityToast then confessed to Natalia & the "source":

‘My name is actually Nate Anderson. I'm the founder of Hindenburg Research. And this is my friend John Scott-Railton.”

(34/x)

They didn't seem to 'get it'. They were unprepared & had no idea we wrote the critical report and that we weren’t the whistleblowers they thought.

They thought we were just volunteering information.

“I’m Neil” replied the ‘source’, helpfully. (35/x)

Everyone eventually realized the camera crew was at a table behind us, filming everything. A lightbulb went on for “Neil”, who up and bolted while @jsrailton followed him asking questions.

Natalia froze & Nate started asking if she had sent the emails to @InsiderNikola.

(36/x)

"Yes".

We asked if she sent the first one (trying to establish whether the phishing email had been hers).

"Yes".

The camera was now on her w/ a boom mic above her head.

"Natalia" became uncomfortable & started swatting at the boom mic, deflecting questions.

(37/x)

Overwhelmed, Natalia eventually blurted: “I'm not saying nothing else without my attorney...I have a right!”

This confused us: we've asked a lot of people questions, but never had anyone reply with their Miranda rights.

(38/x)

.@jsrailton got back from asking “Neil” questions and turned to Natalia with more questions. She stuttered & eventually bolted.

We went back to the hotel & filmed @jsrailton putting the USB drive into an evidence bag, bound for a forensics lab.

(39/x)

Igor rejoined us at the hotel & reported that there were at least 3 operatives in the park surveilling us, including this gentleman very openly recording it.

(40/x)

Igor left to go home.

20 minutes later, he was back with a cheerful warning.

The hotel was being surveilled by 2 people in a dark sedan with tinted windows & electronics equipment in the front, he told us.

They’d followed us back.

(41/x)

We decided to go outside to speak with the vehicle’s occupants.

After we approached, the man in the driver’s seat threw something in the back, turned the car on and sped out, almost crushing @jsrailton against a barrier.

That was the end of the day.

(42/x)

We later ID'd several operatives.

“Natalia” was a used car saleswoman in Miami.

“Neil” was a former DoD contractor with intelligence experience.

The surveillance car was owned by a retired NYPD detective who works security.

(43/x)

From what we gather, Trevor Milton (likely through law firms) hired an army of spies across the nation to harass and intimidate critics/suspected critics.

Most people aren’t aware that these activities go on, but they are becoming common weapons for the rich & powerful.

(44/x)

We’re grateful that despite his ample resources, Trevor Milton’s efforts to suppress @InsiderNikola backfired spectacularly.

He was the first witness at Trevor’s trial & his testimony was damning.

(45/ends)