LORDSTOWN — The founder and ex-chief executive of failed electric-vehicle manufacturer Lordstown Motors Corp. has settled with federal regulators over claims he misled investors about the demand for the company’s flagship vehicle, the Endurance truck.

According to an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Burns — without admitting or denying the commission’s allegations — agreed to pay a $175,000 civil penalty.

In addition, Burns is barred from serving as an officer or director of a publicly traded company for two years.

A complaint filed by the commission in federal court in the District of Columbia claimed Burns made misleading statements about the company’s business in commission filings and other public statements, including that Lordstown Motors had “an established base of customer demand evidenced by more than 100,000 nonbinding preorders from commercial fleet customers,” a news release states.

The statements “were misleading because most of the preorders were not submitted by commercial fleet customers, but rather by companies that did not operate fleets or intend to buy a truck for their own use,” which created “an unrealistic and inaccurate depiction of demand for the truck from commercial fleet customers,” the release states.

An email seeking comment was sent to a press email at Burns’ new company, LandX Motors, on Thursday evening.

In February, the commission charged Lordstown Motors with misleading investors and exaggerating demand for the Endurance. The commission also found the company misrepresented its timeline for delivering the truck.

Lordstown Motors, similarly without admitting or denying the commission’s findings, agreed to settle by paying disgorgement of $25.5 million to resolve class-action lawsuits against the company in Ohio and Delaware.

When the commission made the settlement public Feb. 29, Burns was not charged. In a statement then, he said the commission “falsely characterized his actions” in the settlement with Lordstown Motors.

“I categorically reject the suggestion that my actions constituted wrongdoing. The facts and the truth are supposed to matter. This is not the way our system is supposed to work,” Burns said in the email.

A news release from the commission March 22 states the commission settled fraud charges with Burns.

Burns founded the company in 2019 to mass produce electric work trucks and worked out an agreement with General Motors to purchase its former Lordstown small-car assembly plant for just $20 million to manufacture the vehicles.

Lordstown Motors became a publicly traded company in October 2020 through a merger with DiamondPeak Holdings Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company, or “blank check” company, and went on to raise $675 million from investors.

He left the company in June 2021, without a stated reason by Lordstown Motors, but his departure was in sync with an admission by the company that statements regarding preorders for the Endurance were inaccurate.

He was given a $750,000 severance package, paid over 18 months, when he left.

In November 2021, Burns started unloading shares in the company and took away a total of more than $66 million.

In October, his LAS Capital Inc. acquired certain assets from Lordstown Motors for the design, production and sale of electric light-duty trucks for $10.2 million for its affiliate, LandX Motors.

Meanwhile, a new company emerged from the bankruptcy of Lordstown Motors after a U.S. bankruptcy court judge approved the company’s Chapter 11 exit plan on March 5.

Shares of Nu Ride Inc., the former Lordstown Motors, trade on the OTC Pink Market, but under a new ticker symbol — NRDE — and the company has relocated its headquarters from Lordstown to New York City, according to a recent regulatory filing.