Lawyers insist Nikola founder shouldn't face prison time for fraud — unlike Elizabeth Holmes

Lawyers for the founder of truckmaker Nikola Corp. say he should not face incarceration because his criminal conviction is nothing like what landed Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in prison. The lawyers told a Manhattan federal court judge Tuesday that Trevor Milton never acted in a "greedy or mean-spirted way" as he built a pioneering company looking to take the battery- and hydrogen-electric trucking world to new heights. Milton was convicted a year ago for duping investors with exaggerated claims about his company's production of zero-emission 18-wheel trucks. Holmes is serving an 11-year sentence in Texas for defrauding investors in the blood-testing company Theranos.