Trevor Milton #

Introduction #

Trevor Robert Milton (born April 6, 1982) is an American entrepreneur best known as the founder and former executive chairman and CEO of Nikola Corporation, the electric truck maker briefly worth over $20 billion after its 2020 SPAC merger. He was indicted on federal fraud charges on July 29, 2021, convicted in October 2022, and sentenced on December 18, 2023, to four years in prison, a $1 million fine, and $168 million in restitution. President Donald Trump granted him a full pardon in March 2025.

Background Information #

Milton was born in Layton, Utah, to William L. Milton, a Union Pacific Railroad manager, and Sallie Gwyn Hunt Milton, a realtor. His mother died of cancer when he was 15. A Latter-day Saint, he served a mission in Brazil and dropped out of Utah Valley University after one semester; the BBC noted he did not have a degree.

After college, Milton ran an alarm sales business and founded dHybrid, Inc., which retrofitted trucks to run on natural gas; his later firm, dHybrid Systems, was acquired by Worthington Industries. In 2015 he founded Nikola Motor Company in Salt Lake City with $2 million from Worthington Industries, pitching hydrogen- and battery-electric semi-trucks as diesel alternatives.

In June 2020, Nikola went public via a reverse merger with SPAC VectoIQ at a valuation of approximately $12 billion. Within weeks it was valued at more than $20 billion despite never having delivered a single vehicle, and it soon announced partnerships with the likes of General Motors. At its peak that month, Nikola’s market capitalization reached nearly $30 billion, briefly surpassing Ford.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

On September 10, 2020, two days after Nikola established ties with General Motors, Hindenburg Research released a report accusing Milton of false statements and calling Nikola “an intricate fraud.” According to Reuters, the report said there were no working prototypes of the hydrogen-powered Class 8 Nikola One and that a video of one “working” was faked by pushing a shell down a hill; the BBC described the same promotional video as showing the truck rolling downhill rather than running on its own power. The report also said Milton’s claims of groundbreaking battery technology were false. Nikola’s stock fell, drawing SEC and Department of Justice investigations. On September 20, 2020, Milton resigned as executive chairman, the same month CNBC and The Wall Street Journal reported sexual misconduct accusations; those claims, spanning incidents from 1999 and 2004, never resulted in charges due to the statute of limitations, and Milton denied them as unfounded and defamatory.

On July 29, 2021, a federal grand jury indicted Milton on three counts of securities fraud and wire fraud; he pleaded not guilty and was freed on $100 million bail, and an additional wire fraud count followed in June 2022. In October 2022, a jury found him guilty on one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud.

On December 18, 2023, Milton was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to four years in prison, three years of supervised release, a $1 million fine, and $168 million in restitution; a judge ruled he could remain free on bail pending his appeal.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

At the sentencing hearing, the 41-year-old Milton wept and maintained he meant well. “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,” said Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Judge Edgardo Ramos told Milton, “Over the course of many months, you used your considerable social media skills to tout your company in ways that were materially false,” adding, “What you said over and over on different media outlets was wrong.” Prosecutors said Milton had “made false claims regarding nearly all aspects of Nikola’s business,” specifically targeting non-professional investors.

The consequences extended to the company. Nikola’s shares, which had soared during the pandemic, crashed as questions grew about Milton’s statements, and Nikola paid $125 million to resolve fraud claims brought by financial regulators. In October 2023, he was ordered to pay his former company $165 million for damages Nikola incurred due to his actions, including the SEC fine.

Current Status #

On February 19, 2025, Nikola Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying it would sell off all or most of its assets. On March 27, 2025, President Donald Trump granted Milton a full pardon, meaning he will not need to compensate Nikola shareholders, who lost tens of millions of dollars; Reuters reported that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had lobbied Trump to pardon him. In September 2025, the SEC under the second Trump administration dropped its civil cases against Milton, so he will face no civil penalties or job restrictions.

After Hindenburg Research announced its closure in 2025, Milton criticized the firm, saying its reports could destroy businesses regardless of accuracy, and proposed making short selling illegal in the U.S. In October 2025, Milton acquired SyberJet Aircraft, a Utah-based jet manufacturer staffed by dozens of former Nikola employees, and became its chief executive. In August 2026 he was aboard a SyberJet SJ30-2 flight the company said set an east-to-west transcontinental speed record for its weight class, pending verification.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The fraud case dismantled one of the most spectacular SPAC-era fortunes. Milton was ousted from Nikola, its market value collapsed, and he was ordered to pay $168 million in restitution — an obligation the pardon erased, leaving shareholders who lost tens of millions of dollars uncompensated. The BBC noted the sentence put him behind bars alongside Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried.

Yet for Milton the fall was followed by a rapid rehabilitation. He and his wife donated more than $3.2 million to Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign and figures in Trump’s orbit, and he was represented by lawyers close to Trump — Marc Mukasey and Brad Bondi, brother of Pam Bondi, later U.S. Attorney General. After the pardon and the SEC’s decision to drop its civil cases, he returned as CEO of SyberJet Aircraft, developing the SJ30 and SJ36 jets — a comeback from a conviction prosecutors had framed as a warning that “‘fake it till you make it’ is not an excuse for fraud.” For an entrepreneur whose rise and fall were measured in billions, the arc ended in a presidential pardon rather than lasting cancellation — and a new company to run.