Trevor Milton

Donald Trump granted Milton a full and unconditional pardon for his federal securities fraud and wire fraud convictions, remitting the criminal sentences and sanctions covered by the pardon.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Milton was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release on the three fraud counts upheld by the jury.

Legal status — source text

48-month sentence plus supervised release

Attribution

Accused

After a month-long trial, Milton was convicted on three counts concerning his lies to investors about Nikola.

State of the evidence

Established by a court

Attribution

Accused

Federal prosecutors indicted Milton over a broad scheme of false or misleading statements designed to attract retail investors to Nikola.

Attribution

Accused

Milton repeatedly claimed that Nikola had developed its own technologies, software, batteries, propulsion systems or components that had in fact been purchased, supplied by others or not yet developed.

State of the evidence

Established by a court

Attribution

Personally implicated

Milton claimed that Nikola was already producing hydrogen or had highly advanced production capacity and costs, when the company was not yet producing the hydrogen described to investors.

State of the evidence

Established by a court

Attribution

Personally implicated

Milton promoted the Badger pick-up truck as a technologically advanced Nikola product nearing completion, while the case showed reliance on third parties and a donor vehicle for the functioning mock-up.

Attribution

Personally implicated

Milton promoted the value of truck orders and reservations to support Nikola's commercial prospects, although a substantial proportion were non-binding and did not guarantee the projected revenue.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Personally implicated

Nikola released a video giving the impression that the Nikola One prototype was moving under its own power. Evidence in the case established that it had been towed to the top of a slope and then filmed rolling downhill under gravity.

Attribution

Directly implicated

At the Nikola One unveiling, Milton gave the public and investors the impression that it was a functional vehicle, although the prototype could not move under its own power and contained non-operational components.

Attribution

Personally implicated