The court hearing on the sale of assets of bankrupt electric truck startup Nicola to Lucid Motors went smoothly on Friday. No objections have been raised to the deal, and Delaware Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Hollan approved it verbally without hesitation.
That is, the lawyer piped up the Zoom call and piped up towards the end of the hearing.
The lawyer said his client “has some concerns” about how the auction process is carried out. They could be addressed at a later date, he said, but he emphasized that he does not want client silence to be “opposed to us in the future.”
The lawyers represented ISSO LLC, which Nicola founder Trevor Milton, has used to assess bids for the assets of the previous company. As part of the process, he had already been forbidden by Nicola from touring the Arizona factory.
The approval for the sale to lucid was refreshing, but the late appearance by Milton’s representative was an ominous indication that he hadn’t plunged into his previous company.
Milton could try to fight the $168 million arbitration award that was ordered to pay Nicola last year, as he helped him avoid four years’ prison sentence after giving him pardon from President Donald Trump.
That arbitration award remains a key element of Nicola’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. Prior to bankruptcy, Nicola was able to settle a class action lawsuit by shareholders in connection with false claims made by Milton while serving as CEO of the company. However, we were able to do so by committing to distribute that arbitration award to those shareholders.
Nicola still has assets that she wants to sell following clear transactions. Lucid has purchased Arizona, Factory, Phoenix head office leasing, and manufacturing equipment. It will also hire around 300 Nicola employees. However, Nicola still maintains inventory of large hydrogen-powered rigs and other various other equipment.
Nicola’s lawyer, Joshua Morris, said at the hearing that he was not surprised by Isso, and Milton “will want to try these cases.”
“This is a pattern of behavior we’ve seen many times,” Morris said. “I believe these are unfounded claims. When asked for evidence or specificity, nothing was provided.
Morris went on to say that he views Milton’s participation in the sales process as “an attempt to harm the company for profits that I cannot fully confirm.”
He added that Milton may be throwing poles into the sales process in hopes of affecting the arbitration award.
“The play is probably about rendering [Nikola] The committee is desperate to support the committee [of unsecured creditors] The debtor will try or force them to accept some low-ball settlement proposals,” he said.
The lawyer left things there and ended the hearing. A Milton spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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