Tech tycoon Tushar Atre, 50, was dragged out of bed around 3am on October 1, 2019, by a group of men who broke into his $5.4 million beach house in Santa Cruz, California

The men, two of whom were his employees, stabbed and kidnapped the millionaire, before shooting him and leaving him for dead 14 miles away in a rural mountain area

They also stole thousands of dollars in cash from a safe and fled in a vehicle they stole from Atre’s home

Stephen Nicholas ‘Nic’ Lindsay and Kurtis Charters, convicted of murder and related charges in trials earlier this year, have been sentenced to life in prison without parole

Charters’s younger brother Kaleb Charters, 24 and their friend Joshua Camps, 28, both Atre’s employees, have also been charged in the crime

The pair who instigated the home invasion before recruiting Kurtis Charters and Nic Lindsay are facing separate trials for first-degree murder, robbery, burglary, kidnapping and carjacking

As trial continued for Kaleb Charters on Monday, witnesses testified that he and co-worker Joshua Camps had been ‘humiliated’ at the hands of their boss, Atre

Trial for Camps, the alleged trigger man is paused, to resume at the conclusion of the current case against Kaleb

Millionaire tech and cannabis tycoon Tushar Atre, [photo], was abducted from his beach front home in Santa Cruz, California on October 1, 2019 by a group of men who fled in a BMW SUV they stole from his home. He was later found a day later, stabbed and shot dead

A tech tycoon who was abducted, stabbed and shot dead in central California had bullied and humiliated his employees ahead of his grisly murder, a court heard.
Tushar Atre was the CEO of website design company Atrenet. He had also launched a licensed cannabis manufacturing company called Interstitial Systems in 2018.
However it all ended on October1, 2019 when the 50-year-old entrepreneur was dragged out of bed around 3am, by a group of men who broke into his plush $5.4 million Santa Cruz beach house.
The men, two of whom were his employees, stabbed and kidnapped the millionaire, before shooting him and leaving him for dead 14 miles away in a rural mountain area, investigators alleged.
The home invaders who fled in Atre’s white BMW SUV, also stole thousands of dollars in cash from a safe in Atre’s home. 
Stephen Nicholas ‘Nic’ Lindsay, 27, and Kurtis Charters, 27, were convicted of murder and related charges in trials earlier this year, KRON reported.
They have been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Charters’s younger brother Kaleb Charters and their friend Joshua Camps have also been charged in Atre’s death.

Kurtis Charters [left], 27, and Stephen Nicholas ‘Nic’ Lindsay [right], 27, were convicted of murder and related charges in trials earlier this year. They were sentenced to life in prison without parole. The former’s bother Kaleb Charters worked for Atre

The younger Charters was back in court on Monday as experts and witnesses testified before the jury, alleging that the men had been ‘humiliated’ at the hands of the tech honcho.
Atre, who bragged about being ‘worth thousands of dollars an hour,’ forced Lindsay and Kaleb to perform between 300 to 500 push-ups in order to receive their $1,400 paychecks, Atre’s right-hand-man Sam Borghese testified.
Lindsay and Kaleb, then 22 and 18, at the time members of the Army National Guard, were hired to work at Atre’s marijuana farm in August 2019.
For his part, Sam Borghese, a 23-year-old graduate of the University of California Santa Cruz, had been hired to manage the cannabis business.
Atre ‘pushed his employees very hard’, invoked fear, and would frequently yell, withhold pay and fire workers if he felt disrespected, Borghese testified on Monday.
Lindsay and Kaleb performed manual labor on Atre’s farm for nearly two weeks, working from sunrise to sunset, the jury heard. 

Artre was dragged out of bed at his $5.4 million beach house [photo] in Santa Cruz, around 3am after a group of men broke into the home, stabbed and kidnapped him. The kidnappers shot him and left him for dead 14 miles away in a rural mountain area

During their employment, Borghese was tasked with driving the duo approximately 300 miles to Humbolt County to purchase hundreds of marijuana plants.
Atre had given them $25,000 in cash to carry out the transaction, Borghese said.
The business manager explained that the pair, after receiving pay for their work, ‘told me they needed a break, because this was very intense work’.
After Lindsay and Kaleb left, it soon emerged that keys to a farm truck were missing. Atre seemingly assumed that the pair had taken them.
‘Tushar got really upset. Tushar called the bank and bounced the checks,’ Borghese told the court, according to KRON. 

Kaleb Charters [left], 24, appearing in court Monday, pled not guilty to first-degree murder. He’s also charged with robbery, burglary, kidnapping and carjacking. His friend Joshua Camps [right], 28, has also been charged in Atre’s death. Both were then members of the Army National Guard, but worked for Atre’s cannabis company, instigated the home invasion. Trial for Camps is currently paused

Three suspects were caught on surveillance camera walking near Atre’s home with a duffel bag and rifle on October 1, 2019 – the night he was abducted and murdered

Atre was seen on surveillance footage recorded in the early hours of October, 2019, being abducted from his Santa Cruz home in a white BMW SUV the suspects stole from his home

Atre’s right-hand-man Sam Borghese [photo], testified in court Monday. The manager of Interstitial Systems recounts how the millionaire cheated and humiliated his employees – then bullied the men rather than apologize, when his accusations turned out to be false

The duo returned to the farm, located the keys at the property and confronted Atre about the bounced checks, prompting an argument.
Atre allegedly bragged about his wealth to the duo and highlighted how ‘anyone who wastes his time is costing money’. Atre then ordered the duo to perform between 300-500 pushups, Borghese said, before they would receive new paychecks for $1,400 each, the court heard.
Weeks later, in September 2019, Kaleb Charters and Joshua Camps phoned Sam Borghese and requested the security code for their boss’s home and allegedly talked about robbing him. Borghese claims he believed they were joking and provided them with a fake code.
Proceeding with their plan, the duo then recruited Charters’s older brother and Camps to help them rob Atre. 
Kaleb Charters drove Lindsay, Camps and his brother Kurtis to Tushar Atre’s beach house on October 1, dropped them off, and drove away, investigators told the court.

Surveillance cameras footage from October 1, 2019, captured Atre running down his street and screaming for help before he was tackled by the trio who invaded his home and stabbed

Surveillance cameras captured Atre running down his street and screaming for help before he was tackled by the trio and stabbed.
Lindsay, Camps and Kurtis Charters forced Atre into a stolen BMW and took him to his cannabis farm in the mountains. Kaleb Charters was waiting for them at the property.
Camps shot Atre in the back of the head and the group left him for dead. His body was found in the BMW several hours later.
In the days following the murder, Lindsay and Kaleb Charters deposited cash into their personal bank accounts and attempted to use Atre’s banking details to pay their bills, credit cards and transfer funds via PayPal.

Atre [photo], was ‘boastful’, frequently posting, images of himself surfing or looking out at the ocean from inside his house. He was equally a hard task master who ‘pushed his employees very hard’, invoked fear, and would frequently yell, withhold pay and fire workers if he felt disrespected, Borghese testified

Kaleb Charters has pled not guilty to first-degree murder. He is also facing robbery, burglary, kidnapping and carjacking charges. His attorney argued that although the younger Charters agreed to participate in the burglary, he never intended to be part of a murder.
The defense told the court his accomplices diverted from the plan, which was to break into Atre’s home while he was out of town and steal cash and a vehicle. According to the defense argument, their client dropped the trio off and went to the meeting place at the farm. he was at the farm when he learned of the change of plans.
‘Kaleb never touched Tushar,’ his attorney told the court, highlighting how Camps shot Atre, emphasizing his client neither burglarized the home nor attack the homeowner on the street.
Charters’s trial will continue Tuesday. 
Meanwhile, the separate trial for Camps has been paused. Proceedings will resume after the jury reaches a verdict in the current case.