I'm frankly amazed they lasted this long given the shadiness and scandals. I've seen a lot of "fake it til you make it" in tech startup land, including lots of tall claims, but I don't think I've seen any case as bad as Nikola's founder (Trevor Milton). Dude straight up lied about the product, it's capabilities and it's current state, to include faking test results and using camera tricks to make videos of a truck driving as "proof" that it worked. One example, they were "driving" (actually rolling) down a hill but angled the camera so that the ground would look flat making it appear the truck was driving under its own power[1]. Pretty wild story.

[1] From TFA: "In 2018, Milton posted a video on X that showed the truck seemingly cruise down a flat road. But it was all smoke and mirrors, prosecutors say. “In fact, to film these clips, the Nikola One was towed to the top of a hill, at which point the ‘driver’ released the brakes, and the truck rolled down the hill until being brought to a stop in front of the stop sign,” the Department of Justice wrote in the release Monday."