(Reuters) – Shares in Nikola Corp closed 8.4% lower on Tuesday after the short-selling research house, which has alleged the electric truckmaker misled investors over its technology, said the company had failed to address most of its queries.
Nikola has rejected the accusations and threatened to take legal action against short-seller Hindenburg since its research into the company sparked the first of a series of falls in the company’s shares last week.
The Financial Times reported https://www.ft.com/content/a45a6638-167b-4e27-a9fd-576e7229f959 on Tuesday, citing sources, that the U.S. Department of Justice has been probing into claims leveled against Nikola in Hindenburg’s report.
Separately, Bloomberg News reported late on Monday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was probing Nikola to assess the merits of the short seller’s claims.
Nikola did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Tuesday.
The company said on Monday it had contacted and briefed the SEC on its concerns regarding the short-seller’s report.
“Nikola’s response has holes big enough to roll a truck through,” Hindenburg said in a new report on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Ayanti Bera and Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Patrick Graham, Aditya Soni)
