Why Trevor Milton pardoned by Trump

In a surprising move, Trevor Milton, the founder of terminal zero-emission truck maker Nikola Corp. sentenced to four years of prison in 2023 for fraud, has been sprung by President Donald Trump. In a video posted to X, Milton, who was out on bail while appealing the conviction, said he was given a full pardon. He also responded via a press release issued by Trevor Milton Media.

"This pardon is not just about me—it's about every American who has been railroaded by the government, and unfortunately, that's a lot of people," said Milton, whose former company made both Class 8 battery-electric and fuel-cell electric trucks.

Trump has also claimed the justice system has been weaponized against him and many others (even signing an executive order to reign in the U.S. Department of Justice). Milton called the president “an amazing man that cared enough to call me personally to tell me how much of an injustice this all was.”

Trump’s is one of three accounts Milton follows on X; the other two are Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and an obvious role model for Milton, and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Musk oversees.

Milton’s legal troubles

Milton, who turns 43 next week, was sentenced to four years of prison in Dec. 2023 by the Southern District of New York for misleading and defrauding investors. Nikola was seen as a unicorn stock that would make people rich, and Milton’s bravado convinced investors the technology couldn’t miss.

Anheuser Busch was an early adopter of pilot trucks, and General Motors was going to help Nikola make a pickup called the Badger that would have options for both a fuel cell and battery-electric powertrain. Right on cue the Hindenburg Report, a short seller, released a damning analysis with alleged employee testimonies and evidence an early truck demonstration was powered by a momentum down a slight slope, not hydrogen. Things unravled fast and Milton was pushed out. Then the Securities Exchange Commission came after Milton.

This led to his conviction.

At the time, Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for SDNY said:

“Trevor Milton lied to investors again and again — on social media, on television, on podcasts, and in print. But today’s sentence should be a warning to start-up founders and corporate executives everywhere — ‘fake it till you make it’ is not an excuse for fraud, and if you mislead your investors, you will pay a stiff price.”

Whatever can be said of Milton, the company did become the first to market with a hydrogen-powered truck, and despite technical problems common with early models, it was not fake. (Source: I drove it.)

It’s also telling that he still has support of former colleagues. Jason Roycht, who became the de facto front man to the media after Milton left, said this on LinkedIn after the pardon:

“Regardless of where you stand on opinion, it’s a small victory in a lost war. Trevor didn’t deserve the treatment he got and investors deserved more than what they got. None of the customers and partners are in the clear either, given the final ending of the company. This is a complicated tale with learnings for many.”

Free and not holding back

The Nikola founder has always maintained his innocence.

In fact, when Nikola declared bankruptcy in February, about 14 months after delivering the first fuel cell electric truck to make it to full production, Milton held a traditional Irish wake of sorts, attacking the current leadership and alleging they had something to do with his prosecution.

He posted on X Feb. 19: “This is what happens when you frame a founder for a crime they didn't commit, destroy the company's brand, lie to shareholders, take huge salaries, pillage the company's ip and run off into the sunset like the current management has done. Complete corruption that's rewarded by the GOV.”

Nikola’s CEO at time of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Stephen Girsky, was also Nikola chairman of the board from 2020 to 2023. He was the CEO of the SPAC called VectoIQ that merged with the startup so it could go public in June 2020. Girsky assumed the role after former CEO Michael Lohscheller stepped down in August 2023, curiously the same week the Class 8 Nikola FCEV went into production. And a few weeks after that, Nikola recalled all 209 BEVs due to fire risk.

The FCEV, however, had been received well by the industry, with J.B. Hunt and Biagi Brothers buying several for West Coast operations. But the cost of hydrogen and complicated fuel cell systems have deterred wider adoption of the technology.

With Nikola gasping its last breaths and looking to sell of its assets and IP, the company is now worth a dime a share. Five years ago, when Nikola went public, however, the stock prices of NKLA shot up to nearly $80 per share and the company was valued at over $30 billion.

I had a lengthy interview with Milton (who was very gracious and admittedly charismatic) a week before that happened, and he said at the time, “It's one of the greatest success stories in American history. We're changing emissions worldwide.”

That didn’t happen, and there’s now a pendulum swing back to internal combustion in the industry with Trump rolling back emissions regulations. But one thing that hasn’t changed is Milton’s chutzpah.

On the day he was pardoned, Milton vowed: “The greatest comeback story in America is about to happen.”

That story will be told, according to Milton, in the upcoming documentary: “The Trevor Milton Saga: Conviction or Conspiracy.”

Watch the trailer here.