Steve Burns, the ousted founder, chairman, and CEO of bankrupt EV startup Lordstown Motors, has reached a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over misleading investors about demand for the company’s flagship all-electric Endurance pickup truck.
Burns has agreed to pay a civil fine of $175,000 and is prohibited from serving as an officer or director of a public company for two years, as stated in the agreement filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, Burns has consented to a permanent injunction, the fine, and other stipulations in the agreement, as confirmed by the SEC.
The SEC had charged Lordstown Motors in February 2024 with misleading investors about the sales prospects of its Endurance electric pickup truck. The company agreed to pay $25.5 million at the time, but it was not clear then that the SEC was also targeting Burns.
Lordstown Motors was established in April 2019 as a spinoff of Burns’ other company, Workhorse Group. After going public in the following year through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company DiamondPeak Holdings Corp., with a market value of $1.6 billion, the company received $780 million from investors, as per the SEC.
By June 2020, Lordstown was riding high after unveiling its Endurance electric pickup truck. However, subsequent investigations revealed that many pre-orders were not from commercial fleet customers as claimed by Burns, leading to his resignation and the company’s eventual bankruptcy filing for Chapter 11 protection.
Today, Lordstown Motors operates under the new name Nu Ride Inc. and Burns has launched a new venture called LandX Motors.
