Nikola founder Trevor Milton receives presidential pardon

At the end of 2023, a court sentenced Milton to four years in prison over fraud. Following the sentencing, he initially remained at large until his appeal was heard in 2024. However, with the pardon by US President Donald Trump, the prison sentence is now invalid. According to the AP news agency, it could also cancel out millions in compensation payments that the public prosecutor’s office had demanded for the defrauded investors. Milton and his wife had donated more than 1.8 million dollars to Donald Trump’s campaign less than a month before the 2024 US election.

Milton was found guilty of fraud in 2022. He is said to have exaggerated the potential of Nikola technology in order to obtain investor funds. The Nikola founder had already stepped down from his position as CEO in September 2020.

However, Trevor Milton has probably not yet completely closed the Nikola Motors chapter: according to court documents and a person familiar with the matter, Milton is trying to buy Nikola’s assets from the insolvency estate. Nikola filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February. However, Nikola management’s interest in having the ex-CEO on board as an owner is said to be very limited: according to Techcrunch, the company is said to have prevented Milton from personally visiting the Coolidge plant in Arizona at the beginning of April as part of his bid.

apnews.com (pardon), techcrunch.com (assets)