Trevor Milton, founding father of Nikola Corp., arrives at courtroom in New York, on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022.
Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
President Donald Trump pardoned Nikola Corp. founder Trevor Milton for his October 2022 conviction of federal crimes associated to defrauding traders with false claims concerning the success of the electrical and hydrogen-powered truck maker.
Milton, 42, was sentenced in December 2023 to 4 years in jail, however he has been free since then pending an enchantment of the previous CEO’s felony conviction on securities and wire fraud expenses in U.S. District Courtroom in Manhattan.
The pardon got here two weeks after federal prosecutors urged District Courtroom Choose Edgardo Ramos to order Milton to pay restitution of $680 million to Nikola shareholders, and one other $15.2 million to Peter Hicks, a sufferer of his wire fraud.
Due to the pardon, Ramos couldn’t order restitution of any form.
“Oh my gosh, oh, you will not imagine what simply occurred,” Milton stated in an Instagram video posted on his private account Thursday. “Most likely the perfect day I’ve had in 5 years.”
“I simply received a name from the president of america, on my cellphone, and he signed my full and unconditional pardon of innocence,” stated Milton, who gave the impression to be driving a automobile within the video.
“I’m free. The prosecutors can now not damage me,” he stated. “They cannot destroy my household, they can not rip every little thing away from me, they can not spoil my life.”
The White Home confirmed the pardon.
Protection attorneys for Milton didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace, which prosecuted Milton, declined to touch upon the pardon.
The Manhattan U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace, when it obtained an indictment towards Milton in 2021, stated some traders defrauded by his scheme “suffered tens and even a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} in losses, together with, in sure instances, the lack of their retirement financial savings or funds that that they had borrowed to put money into Nikola.”
Milton additionally made important political donations to Republicans in late 2024, together with $920,000 to the Trump 47 Committee, which was first reported by New York Instances reporter Ken Bensinger.
Milton “donated $2 million to Republicans between September and December,” Bensinger wrote in a tweet.
In a press launch Thursday, Milton stated, “This pardon isn’t just about me — it is about each American who has been railroaded by the federal government, and sadly, that is lots of people.”
Milton stated that there are “placing similarities” between his case “and people introduced towards President Trump.”
The president was charged in 4 felony instances between his first and second phrases within the White Home.
After Trump was elected in November, the U.S. Justice Division sought the dismissal of the 2 federal instances, citing a division coverage that bars the federal prosecution of sitting presidents.
There was no submitting in Manhattan federal courtroom or the 2nd Circuit U.S. Courtroom of Appeals indicating that the felony case towards Milton had been terminated resulting from a pardon.
Nevertheless, it isn’t unusual for notices of presidential pardons to be filed with the courtroom a number of days after the pardons are issued.
Trevor Milton CEO of Nikola
Massimo Pinca | Reuters
“It’s no surprise why belief and confidence within the Justice Division has eroded to nothing,” Milton stated within the press launch.
“I want judges would cease believing regardless of the prosecutors feed them so Individuals might belief the justice system once more,” he stated. “Till that occurs, our justice system will proceed to erode till there’s nothing left.”
Trump’s pardon of Milton, if confirmed, would erase his felony conviction and the sentence, which included a $1 million effective.
A string of pardons
Earlier this month, Trump pardoned former Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey, who had simply begun serving a 21-month jail time period after pleading responsible in a federal marketing campaign finance conspiracy case.
In that case, it took every week after Kelsey was launched from jail for the discover of the pardon to be filed in federal courtroom.
Earlier this week, Trump signed a full and unconditional pardon for Devon Archer, a one-time enterprise companion of Hunter Biden, former President Joe Biden‘s son.
Like Milton, Archer had additionally been convicted in a fraud case.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds an Govt Grant of Clemency for Devon Archer, on the White Home in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 25, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
Proper after his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump notably pardoned round 1,500 individuals who had been both charged or convicted of crimes associated to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of the president’s supporters.
On his second day in workplace, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who was serving a life sentence for crimes associated to his darkish internet market Silk Street.
In February, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich acquired a presidential pardon. Blagojevich had served eight years in jail after he was convicted of trying to promote the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama, after the first-term senator was elected president in 2008.
Nikola’s collapse
In February, Nikola filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety in U.S. Chapter Courtroom in Delaware.
The corporate stated in a submitting that it had liabilities of between $1 billion and $10 billion, and property of between $500 million and $1 billion. It additionally sought courtroom approval to pursue a sale of the enterprise, saying it had about $47 million in money available.
Nikola, which makes primarily all-electric and gas cell electrical semi-trucks, has struggled in recent times. The corporate had solely offered 600 autos since 2022, as of its most up-to-date third quarter.
As the corporate’s capital has shrunk, lots of its vans have been recalled because of defects. In its third-quarter convention name, the corporate warned traders it had sufficient money to fund operations into the primary quarter of 2025, however not past that.
Nikola TRE FCEV2
Courtesy: Nikola
The collapse of Nikola comes simply 5 years after it hit a $30 billion market capitalization in 2020, exceeding that of Ford on the time.
The valuation was fueled by deceptive statements by Milton, who was indicted in July 2021.
In accordance with prosecutors, from November 2019 by way of September 2020 Milton induced non-professional traders to put money into Nikola “by way of false and deceptive statements concerning Nikola’s product growth … by way of social media and tv, print, and podcast interviews.”
“Milton made false claims concerning almost all elements of Nikola’s enterprise,” the Manhattan U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace stated on the time of his indictment.
These included false claims “that the corporate had early success in making a ‘totally functioning’ semi-truck prototype often known as the ‘Nikola One,’ when Milton knew the prototype was inoperable.”
The workplace additionally stated Milton had made “false and deceptive statements that Nikola had engineered and constructed an electric- and hydrogen-powered pickup truck often known as ‘the Badger’ from the ‘floor up’ utilizing Nikola’s elements and expertise, when Milton knew that was not true.”
Final fall, a choose confirmed an almost $168 million arbitration award towards Milton for his deceptive statements about Nikola.
— CNBC’s Eamon Javers contributed to this story.
