Nikola Corporation founder Trevor Milton, convicted of fraud and sentenced to prison, reportedly received a pardon from President Donald Trump. Milton shared in an Instagram post that Trump called him to notify him of the full and unconditional pardon.
The White House later confirmed the pardon, according to a report by Wall Street Journal.
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Milton’s pardon comes two weeks after Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky requested that a court order him to pay nearly $676 million in restitution to his defrauded victims.
The development has also brought attention to Milton’s financial ties to Trump and the Republican Party, which includes a donation of $920,000 to Trump’s fundraising committee and hundreds of thousands more to various Republican committees and politicians, according to the Federal Election Commission website.
A jury convicted Milton in 2022 for deceiving investors about the zero-emission 18-wheel truck maker’s technology. During the trial, prosecutors argued that Milton rebranded a General Motors vehicle as a Nikola truck and provided evidence of doctored videos that hid the trucks’ flaws.
The jury convicted Milton on one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud, and a judge sentenced him to four years in prison in 2023.
Last February, Nikola filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after forecasting it would run out of money this year. The company also announced in late March that it plans to voluntarily deregister with the SEC and delist from Nasdaq.
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