I have not had time to watch it, but I am just guessing, that maybe Nikola wasn't supposed to be a true-full fraud... just a CEO thinking it is easier to make it... and trying to do the old 'fake it till ya make it' trick.
I bet Elizabeth Holmes was doing the same with her sham. Eventually, she had to start cheating more and more to keep the dream afloat. But it's ok everyone, because now we find out it's not her fault... it was all to blame on one of her X'es. She's just a poor young & dumb female, not her fault all of a sudden.