A Lordstown Motors sign is seen outside the Lordstown Assembly Plant in Lordstown, Ohio, U.S., June 21, 2021. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook//File Photo

March 2 (Reuters) – The former chief executive of electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors Corp (RIDE.O) sold $13.5 million worth of shares in the electric vehicle startup on February 28, a filing shows regulatory – a day before General Motors Co revealed it had sold its stake in the company.

Steve Burns sold nearly 5.3 million shares of Lordstown on Monday, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, a day before GM announced it had sold 7.5 million shares of Lordstown in a series of sales in the fourth quarter. Read more

Lordstown declined to comment. Two attorneys for Burns did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Burns could not be reached for comment.

Burns, who was at the helm of Lordstown from its founding in 2018 until his resignation in June 2021, still remains by far the largest shareholder in the company, according to Refinitiv data.

After selling nearly 5.3 million shares on Monday, Burns still owns nearly 38 million shares of Lordstown, worth about $93 million at Wednesday’s trading price.

Burns had sold 3.2 million shares of Lordstown in November, worth around $18.8 million at the time.

He resigned as CEO in June following an internal investigation into allegations by short seller Hindenburg Research, which alleged that Lordstown had misled investors about demand for its vehicles and the production capacity of the company. Read more

Lordstown later admitted he had overstated the quality of pre-orders for the company’s electric trucks, but dismissed as false Hindenburg’s accusations that he had overstated the viability of its technology and misled investors about plans. of production. Read more

Lordstown shares have fallen more than 80% since the Hindenburg report last March.

Reporting by Tina Bellon in Austin, Texas; Editing by Aurora Ellis

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