Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Trevor Milton — who founded the (now bankrupt) electric and hydrogen truck maker Nikola and was convicted a few years ago for misleading investors — announced late Thursday that he has received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.
Trevor Milton stepped down from Nikola in 2020, less than two weeks after the company announced a $2 billion partnership with General Motors.
His resignation came in the wake of explosive allegations from Hindenburg Research, a short-seller firm that accused him of repeatedly misrepresenting Nikola’s technological capabilities — including staging a promotional video that showed a non-functional truck rolling downhill to appear operational.
In 2021, Nikola agreed to pay $125 million to resolve civil fraud charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
A federal jury later convicted Milton in October 2022 on two counts of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud. He was sentenced in December 2023 to four years in prison for deceiving investors about the company’s progress and products.
On X, Nikola’s former chief wrote on Thursday he was “issued a full and unconditional pardon by Donald Trump himself” adding that the U.S. president called him “personally to tell me.”
“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,” Milton wrote in the X post.
Milton claimed “tactics” were used by the Justice Department to “guarantee convictions” before thanking the U.S. President.
“It is no wonder why trust and confidence in the Justice Department has eroded to nothing… I saw firsthand the tactics they use to guarantee convictions,” he stated. “I am incredibly grateful to President Trump for his courage in standing up for what is right and for granting me this sacred pardon of innocence.”
Below is Milton’s full statement:
In February, when Nikola filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and informed that it expected to cease operations by the end of March while selling its intellectual property, Milton attacked (again) both the chief executive Stephen Girsky and the chief legal officer Britton Worthen.
“I have tried unsuccessfully to replace the board of directors at Nikola over the last 2 years, leading all the way up to their bankruptcy filing,” Milton wrote on LinkedIn last month.
“I tried to save the shareholders from incompetence and brand destruction led by Steve Girsky and Britton Worthen,” he added.
Nikola’s Retain Bonus
In the bankruptcy filing, the company said its Board of Directors “adopted a retention bonus program to incentivize certain employees to remain employed” until the closing of the bankruptcy process.
Under the program, the EV maker said “certain employees […] whose role and services are vital to the near-term operations” and/or “whose role or skills are important from an intellectual property, technical or operational standpoint” are eligible to receive a bonus.
The bonus amount will be “equal to between 10% and 50% of such eligible employee’s current annual base compensation,” the company explained before guaranteeing that no bonus will surpass $500,000.
“Now, In their chapter 11 filings, Steve Girsky decided to pay himself a retention bonus along with other executives that have already sucked millions out of the company while telling employees they are now fired.”
