Trump pardons ex-Nikola CEO Trevor Milton
Trevor Milton, the founder of Nikola Motors who was convicted of defrauding investors in his zero-emission truck company, has been pardoned by President Donald Trump, the White House confirmed Friday.
A federal jury convicted Milton of lying about Nikola’s capabilities, including an assertion that it had built its own electric truck, the Nikola One, from the “ground up.” He was also accused of staging a video that purportedly showed its Nikola One semi driving under its own power when it was actually rolling down a hill.
Milton was sentenced to four years in prison, but remained out on bond while he appealed his conviction. “I am free,” Milton said in a video posted on X. “The prosecutors can no longer hurt me.”
Founded in 2015, Nikola staked out a unique position in the EV space by claiming it would make zero-emission big rigs using hydrogen fuel cell technology. But questions emerged about the company’s claims after short-selling firm Hindenburg Research published a bombshell report accusing Nikola of fraud, including the video showing the truck rolling down a hill. The report set off a chain reaction that resulted in Milton’s stepping down as board chair and CEO and his eventual arrest.
In addition to staging the video, Milton was accused of falsely claiming to produce his own hydrogen fuels at below-market rates and obtaining “billions and billions and billions and billions” of dollars’ worth of committed truck orders. Earlier this year, Nikola filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Milton isn’t the first controversial figure for the transportation world to receive a pardon from Trump. During his first term, Trump pardoned Anthony Levandowski, who was convicted of stealing trade secrets from Google’s self-driving car division.