Con man or inspiring visionary? The jury's in on Trevor Milton.

The daughter of the family who lived next door while I was growing up dated (and later married) a truck driver. When he visited, Bob would park the cab of his semi on the street outside the bedroom I shared with my sister. The cab apparently took a while to warm up, so before he left, Bob would start the cab up and head back into the house for a while. We were often woken up at 2 or 3 a.m. by the noisy engine of Bob's cab warming up outside our window. 

My only other big rig experience was hitchhiking in my twenties, and occasionally getting picked up by a truck.

So what I know about 18-wheelers is that - even if we're just talking about the cab - they're plenty noisy.

One of the ancillary benefits of the move to electric-powered trucks is that they'll be quieter than big rigs o' yore.

Mostly, of course, I know nothing about EV trucks, other than vaguely thinking that Elon Musk has something to do with them. If that is, in fact, the case, he's not the only hustler involved with this industry. 

That's because there's Trevor Milton out there. And he's not just an amateur hustler. He's a convicted hustler. 

The wealthy founder of Nikola Corp. was convicted Friday of charges he deceived investors with exaggerated claims about his company’s progress in producing zero-emission 18-wheel trucks fueled by electricity or hydrogen.

...prosecutors alleged that Nikola — founded by Milton in a Utah basement six years ago — falsely claimed to have built its own revolutionary truck that was actually a General Motors Corp. product with Nikola’s logo stamped onto it. There also was evidence that the company produced videos of its trucks that were doctored to hide their flaws. (Source: Boston Globe)

Milton was forced out of Nikola a couple of years ago, but the current CEO was called as a government witness and said on the stand that Milton "was prone to exaggeration" when making his pitch to investors. Is that CEO for "lies through his teeth?"

Although Trevor Milton is no longer truckin' like the doo-dah man, I still thought it would be interesting to motor on over to Nikola and see how the company positions itself. Here's what they're about. 

Disrupt and innovate. Constantly pursue progression and improvement. Push yourself and others to think broadly, go further and achieve more.

Work quickly and get things done. Value simplicity and cut red tape. Take risks and learn from mistakes.

Safety, quality, integrity and attitude. Take personal behavior seriously and put the success of the team above your own. Think about how your work affects others.

Treat the company and its resources as if they’re your own. Trust other’s capabilities. Understand that as the organization succeeds, you succeed.

Pretty standard corporate blather. 

It does, I must admit, make me happy that I'm pretty much out of the game, and will never, ever, ever again in my life have to sit down and "craft" a mission, vision, or 'who we are' statement.

But looking through those words, I'm going to venture that Trevor Milton pushed himself a tad bit too broadly. And that he focused more on attitude than he did on integrity.

In any case, it's no surprise that Milton's lawyer has said that they will appeal. Marc Mukasey maintains that his client is not the con man the prosecutors had painted a picture of but is, rather, an "inspiring visionary."

I could not help but google/notice that Marc Mukasey has been an attorney for the Trump Organization. And for Matt Gaetz. 

Then there's Milton himself, who has a somewhat sketchy background. Including a credible allegation that, as a teenager (he was 18) he sexually assaulted his cousin (she was 15) at their grandfather's funeral. 

Hmmmm. Not to hard to figure out whose side I'm on in this one. 

Anyway, Milton will be sentenced in January. 

Meanwhile, much as I wouldn't mind having some of those years back, I'm just happy that I don't have to worry about good old Bob waking me up as he turned the ignition on his noisy semi-cab. And I'll be happier still when the EV trucks are perfected.