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Nikola Founder Trevor Milton Receives a Full Pardon from President Trump

President Trump pardoned Nikola founder Trevor Milton in March 2025. The grant covered his federal criminal case, not every separate SEC or civil matter.
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President Donald Trump granted Nikola founder Trevor Milton a full and unconditional pardon in March 2025. The pardon covered Milton’s federal criminal case; it did not amount to a jury acquittal or automatically resolve separate SEC, company, or civil proceedings.

What happened in the federal criminal case?

A federal jury found Milton guilty on October 14, 2022, of one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud, according to a later Nikola court filing. The U.S. Department of Justice’s clemency listing records that the Southern District of New York sentenced him on December 18, 2023, to 48 months in prison and three years of supervised release. The company filing also says the sentence included a $1 million fine and forfeiture of certain real estate.

At sentencing, then-U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Milton had repeatedly lied to investors and said the sentence should warn executives that “fake it till you make it” is not an excuse for fraud, as reported by the Associated Press.

What did Trump’s pardon do?

The Justice Department’s clemency listing names Milton and records the offenses and sentence. The pardon instrument, hosted by DOJ, states “A FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL PARDON” and invokes the president’s clemency authority under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution: the pardon document.

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A Nikola court filing says the pardon remitted “any and all fines, penalties, forfeitures, and restitution ordered by the court” in the federal criminal action. The same filing says Milton’s bail and other release conditions were exonerated by court order on April 7, 2025. These effects concern the criminal action described in the filing; the pardon should not be described as a judicial finding that Milton was innocent, a vacatur of the jury’s verdict, or a blanket resolution of every separate obligation.

When was the pardon granted?

  • July 29, 2021: The Nikola filing says federal prosecutors indicted Milton on securities-fraud and wire-fraud charges.
  • October 14, 2022: A jury found him guilty on one securities-fraud count and two wire-fraud counts, according to that filing.
  • December 18, 2023: DOJ records the prison and supervised-release sentence; the company filing also describes the fine and forfeiture.
  • March 2025: Trump issued the full pardon. The Nikola filing gives March 27 as the instrument date. The White House confirmed the pardon on March 28, according to the AP; the DOJ-hosted document’s extracted text identifies March 2025 but its day is not legible.
  • April 7, 2025: The Nikola filing says a court exonerated and released Milton’s bail and other release conditions.

Did the pardon end the SEC or Nikola matters?

No such conclusion follows from the federal criminal pardon. The company filing describes a separate SEC civil action against Milton, filed July 29, 2021, as still stayed at the time of that filing. It also reports a distinct SEC cease-and-desist order against Nikola and a $125 million penalty against the company, with approximately $44.7 million paid under the schedule as of the filing. Nikola’s corporate penalty is not Milton’s criminal sentence.

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The same filing says Nikola initiated arbitration against Milton in November 2021 and that an arbitration panel issued an award in Nikola’s favor in October 2023. The filing does not establish the final disposition of every arbitration-related or other civil obligation after the pardon. It is therefore not possible to conclude from these records that all such matters were eliminated.

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Why did Trump pardon Milton?

The public accounts provide context, but do not establish the private decision process or prove a causal link. The AP reported that Milton and his wife donated more than $1.8 million to a Trump re-election campaign fund less than a month before the November 2024 election, citing federal election records. That timing is a reported fact, not proof that the donations caused the pardon or were exchanged for clemency.

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AP reported Trump said the pardon was “highly recommended by many people,” suggested Milton had been prosecuted because he supported Trump, and said Milton “did nothing wrong.” Those are the president’s reported remarks, not findings about the case. Milton called it a “sacred pardon of innocence,” his characterization rather than a legal acquittal.

A September 16, 2026 House floor speech in the Congressional Record alleged donations exceeding $1.8 million to committees supporting Trump and referred to a $695.2 million restitution calculation. Those claims and the speech’s “cash-for-clemency” characterization are political allegations by the speaker, not independently established findings in that record.

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