By Ben Glickman


Former Lordstown Motors Chief Executive Stephen Burns will pay $175,000 to settle fraud charges, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday.

Regulators alleged Burns had made misleading statements to investors about the electric vehicle-maker's customer base and its number of pre-orders.

According to the SEC, Burns had claimed that Lordstown, which emerged from bankruptcy earlier this month and has changed its name to Nu Ride, had more than 100,000 nonbinding pre-orders from commercial fleet customers for its vehicles, a line of electric pickup trucks.

The SEC claimed these statements were misleading because most of the pre-orders were made by companies that didn't operate fleets or intend to buy trucks, rather than commercial fleet customers.

Representatives for Burns and Nu Ride didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Nu Ride has already settled claims brought against by the SEC. The company agreed to pay back $25.5 million to harmed investors through a separate class-action suit and settled the SEC's claims.

In addition to the $175,000 civil penalty, the SEC said Burns consented to a permanent injunction and a ban from serving as an officer or director of a publicly traded company for two years.

Burns didn't admit or deny the allegations. The settlement is still subject to court approval.


Write to Ben Glickman at ben.glickman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-22-24 1751ET