Trump Pardons Nikola Founder Milton After Fraud Conviction (2)

Nikola Corp. founder Trevor Milton,who was convicted of fraud over misrepresentations about the electric-truck maker’s financial progress, was pardoned by President Donald Trump.

Milton, who said on social media Thursday that he spoke with Trump over the phone, was facing four years in prison for securities and wire fraud. A jury in 2022 found him guilty of falsifying key details about the development of Nikola’s products and technology.

Robert Frenchman, a lawyer for Milton’s trial team, said in a text that his client is “just delighted.” A White House official on Friday confirmed the pardon.

Milton maintained his innocence throughout the trial, saying that his communications were driven by his true belief in the company. His prison sentence was put on hold while he appeals his conviction.

Milton’s pardon is the latest Trump has granted since he returned to the White House in January. Earlier this year, he announced a mass clemency for more than 1,500 people convicted of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol building.

In a social media post on X on Thursday, Milton said Trump “called me personally to tell me” about the pardon. In a statement, Milton said the pardon “marks a step” towards fulfilling Trump’s promise to end the “political weaponization” of the Justice Department.

Speaking to reporters in the oval office Friday, Trump said Milton “was taken advantage of” and alleged that he was targeted by prosecutors because of his support for the president.

“When I heard about it, I said, ‘nope, not going to happen,’” Trump said. “They destroyed five years of his life,” and added that Milton “did nothing wrong” and that “he is a good person.”

Milton made more than $2 million in political donations late last year, much of which went to Republican causes, Federal Election Commission records show. His largest donation was $920,000 to Trump 47 Committee Inc in October.

Milton had amassed a multibillion-dollar fortune off the startup he launched in 2014 and took public six years later. The company’s market value soared as investors piled into prospective EV stocks, so much that Nikola’s market capitalization briefly exceeded that of Ford Motor Co. despite not having sold a single truck.

But soon after Nikola began trading, Bloomberg News reported that Milton had greatly exaggerated the capabilities of one of its first prototypes, the Nikola One, describing it as a fully functioning vehicle even though the truck couldn’t be driven at the time because of missing parts.

Milton stepped down as executive chairman in September 2020. He was charged by federal prosecutors the following July.

The US this month asked the court to order Milton to pay $660.8 million in restitution to individual investors. It’s unclear how Trump’s pardon will affect restitution.

Nikola filed for bankruptcy last month, saying it was exploring a sale of its assets after entering Chapter 11 in Delaware. In court documents, it listed total funded debt and lease obligations of $98 million. The company has since won court permission to auction its Arizona manufacturing facility.

(Updates with comments from Trump in the oval office in paragraph seven.)

--With assistance from Ava Benny-Morrison, Bill Allison, Richard Clough and Ryan Beene.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Chris Dolmetsch in Federal Court in Manhattan at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net;
Josh Wingrove in Washington at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Mario Parker at mparker22@bloomberg.net

Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou

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