Nikola Corporation has rejected a group of ‘dissident’ board nominees put forward by the firm’s former CEO and founder, Trevor Milton.

Mr Milton was sentenced to prison last December for defrauding investors.

In a statement, Nikola said that last month it had received a notice from M&M Residual, LLC, Mr Milton’s entity, declaring its intent to nominate a slate of five directors for its eight-member board.

These nominees were Cole Cannon, Derek Johnson, Hans Peterson, Paul Southam and Dave Sparks.

On its decision to reject the proposed members, the electric truckmaker said: “The director nominees have no public company experience, add no skills or experience to the board, and indisputably lack the depth of experience that the current Nikola board members bring to the company.”

It added that it “continues to suffer harm created by Mr Milton’s business decisions from over three years ago in his role as Founder and Executive Chairman.”

Nikola is currently pursing legal avenues to recover $165 million that was awarded to it in 2023 after its former CEO was found liable in an arbitration with the firm.

In its statement, Nikola concluded: “Mr Milton is separated from the company entirely and has had zero involvement in Nikola’s day-to-day operations since September of 2020.”