WASHINGTON, D.C. - Lordstown Motors has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly misleading investors.

A release from the SEC says Lordstown Motors Corp. misled investors about the sales prospects of its Endurance pickup truck.

Lordstown Motors went public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company in 2020. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2023.

According to the SEC's settled order, Lordstown Motors exaggerated the demand for the all-electric Endurance pickup, claiming they had received more than 100,000 nonbinding preorders for the truck from commercial fleet customers.

The SEC says the order, in reality, came from companies that did not operate fleets or intend to buy the truck for their use. The order also found that Lordstown Motors misrepresented the timeline for delivering the Endurance due to production delays partially due to the company's inability to access many critical parts.

"We allege that, in a highly competitive race to deliver the first mass-produced electric pickup truck to the U.S. market, Lordstown oversold true demand for the Endurance," said Mark Cave, Associate Director of the Division of Enforcement. "Exaggerations that misrepresent a public company's competitive advantages distort the capital markets and foil investors' ability to make informed decisions about where to put their money."

According to the release, the order found that Lordstown Motors violated certain antifraud, proxy and reporting provisions of the federal securities law.

Lordstown Motors, without admitting or denying the SEC's findings and subject to bankruptcy court approval, has agreed to a cease-and-desist order and payments of up to $25.5 million by Lordstown Motors and other defendants to resolve pending class actions against them.

The SEC says the investigation is ongoing.