By The New York Times
Trevor Milton, a major Republican donor who was convicted by a federal jury in 2022 of defrauding investors in the electric truck maker Nikola, has received a pardon from President Trump, the White House said on Friday.
Mr. Milton, Nikola’s founder and former chief executive, was sentenced to four years in prison and fined $1 million after a New York jury convicted him of one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud. He has been free on bail while he appealed the conviction.
In addition to sparing Mr. Milton time in prison, the pardon means he will not be required to comply with a court order to compensate shareholders in Nikola, who lost tens of millions of dollars after Nikola’s share price collapsed. He still faces a class-action lawsuit filed by shareholders.
Mr. Milton was accused of pumping up the value of Nikola stock by making extravagant claims about the company, including that it had working prototypes of emissions-free long-haul trucks, had billions of dollars’ worth of binding orders and was producing low-cost hydrogen fuel. Those statements were false, prosecutors argued during the trial.
