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- Trump Pardons Nikola Founder Trevor Milton For $1 Million
Trump Pardons Nikola Founder Trevor Milton For $1 Million
Nikola filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February of 2025
Dom Ervolina
March 29, 2025
The pardon of Nikola founder Trevor Milton is pure, unadulterated corruption.
In October of 2022, Milton was convicted of defrauding Nikola investors. Prosecutors claimed he had misrepresented how successful the electric and hydrogen-powered truck manufacturer was, thereby inflating the stock price and enriching himself.
District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos ordered Milton to pay $680 million in restitution to Nikola shareholders and an additional $15.2 million to Peter Hicks, who Milton had harmed through wire fraud.
Trump’s pardon wipes all of that away.
Shareholders who were defrauded by Milton will now have to live with the financial consequences while Milton gets to return to his multi-million dollar lifestyle.
“Oh my gosh, oh, you won’t believe what just happened,” Milton said in an Instagram video posted on his personal account Thursday. “Probably the best day I’ve had in five years.”
“I just got a call from the president of the United States, on my phone, and he signed my full and unconditional pardon of innocence,” said Milton, who appeared to be driving a vehicle in the video.
“I am free. The prosecutors can no longer hurt me,” he said. “They can’t destroy my family, they can’t rip everything away from me, they can’t ruin my life.”
Bradley Bondi, one of Milton’s lawyers, is the brother of Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Milton and his wife donated nearly $1 million to Trump’s campaign and another $750k to the MAHA Alliance, RFK Jr.’s political action committee.
Trump remarked at the White House that he didn’t know Milton, but appreciated his support:
"I don't know him, but they say it was very unfair, and the thing that he did wrong was he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president," Trump told reporters.
This continues Trump’s fascination with fraudsters and criminals who have shown him loyalty. He recently pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was serving a life sentence for narcotics trafficking, computer hacking, and money laundering.
That was after Trump pardoned the January 6th insurrectionists en masse, some of whom were arrested again for committing more criminal acts.