LORDSTOWN — Lordstown Motors Corp. will host investors, auto analysts, customers and partners next month to tour its factory — the former General Motors assembly plant — and test drive its battery-powered truck, the Endurance.

Monday the startup electric-truck maker announced the weeklong event starting June 21 in what appears to be an attempt to boost confidence in the company, shaken by a biting short-sellers report in March that has led to several class-action lawsuits and the freefall of its stock. The company also is the subject of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission probe.

It gives the parties the opportunity to speak with company executives and tour the 6.2 million-square-foot plant to “experience firsthand how the production team is preparing the plant for the ramp up to be ready for the beginning of early production” of the truck in late September, a release states.

The announcement came the day Lordstown Motors had scheduled the release of its first quarter 2021 financial results, but the company paused Friday, instead rescheduling until after the stock market closes May 24.

The delay follows an announcement, also last week, that Lordstown Motors will restate its previously issued 2020 financial statements to be in line with new SEC guidelines for special purpose acquisition companies.

Under the new guidance, the company will account for outstanding stock warrants when it combined with DiamondPeak Holdings Corp., a New York-based SPAC, in October as liabilities, not equity.

At the end of 2020, the company had 13,380,680 warrants outstanding. As a result of exercises for cash proceeds of about $82 million and redemption of certain warrants during the first quarter, the company had 3,955,907 outstanding warrants on March 31, according to a recent filing with the SEC.

The company, the SEC filing states, is working to file the new financial documents “as soon as practicable.”

LAWSUITS

The latest lawsuit filed by FNY Managed Accounts LLC accuses the company officials of misrepresenting the company, costing it more than $1.1 billion in value.

Filed Friday in U.S. court in Youngstown, it notes questions by a Morgan Stanley analyst regarding the commercial viability of the in-wheel motors touted by Lordstown Motors and the company’s appearance in the 2021 SCORE International San Felipe 250 desert baja race.

Lordstown Motors partnered with known offroad engineering and fabricating company Brenthel Industries for the race.

“In reality it was not the Lordstown Endurance EV or ‘skateboard’ — as Lordstown proclaimed — but a Brenthel race truck that was modified to accommodate hub motors, battery and electronic control unit provided by Lordstown …,” the lawsuit states.

The truck completed 40 miles of the race.

Lordstown Motors has licensed the in-hub motor technology from a company in Slovenia, Elaphe.

The suit names founder and CEO, Steve Burns; Rich Schmidt, president; Julio Rodriguez, chief financial officer; Shane Brown, chief production officer; and Darren Post, chief engineer.

Also last week, Raymond Romano, owner of DiamondPeak and Lordstown Motors common stock, filed a lawsuit. It alleges public statements and documents filed with the SEC regarding the Endurance before and after the merger were false and misleading and “failed to disclose material adverse facts about Lordstown and its business, operations and prospects.”

It takes issue specifically with preorders for the truck, claiming the number was fabricated and inflated, therefore not accurately reflecting demand and giving prospective investors a false sense of confidence.

It names Burns; former DiamondPeak Chairman and CEO, David Hamamoto, who stayed on with Lordstown Motors as a director; and former DiamondPeak directors Mark A. Walsh, Andrew C. Richardson, Steven R. Hash and Judith A. Hannaway.

A email seeking comment on the lawsuits filed last week was sent to a Lordstown Motors spokesman.

Four other lawsuits have been combined. Similarly, they claim false and misleading statements were made regarding preorders and ability to meet its stated September launch date.

Another lawsuit filed in U.S. court in Delaware is a stockholder derivative complaint that alleges wrongdoing and misleading public statements by officers and directors of Lordstown Motors Corp. have devastated the electric truck startup’s credibility and caused it to lose more than $1 billion in value.

The action was filed on behalf of Lordstown Motors against its executives and former executives of DiamondPeak.

rselak@tribtoday.com