On 27 March 2025, US president Donald Trump granted a pardon to Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola Corporation, effectively bringing an early end to one of the most controversial legal sagas in the electric mobility sector. Milton had been convicted by a US court of securities fraud and wire fraud after misleading investors and the public with false claims about his company’s technological advancements. The founder of the electric truck start-up, which later collapsed following his departure, was sentenced to four years in prison in December 2023 but never served time behind bars, having remained free on bail while awaiting appeal.
His name had already become synonymous with one of the most dramatic downfalls in the emerging mobility world: once hailed as a visionary promising to revolutionise freight transport, his statements were later revealed to be exaggerated or entirely false. The case came to light in 2020 following an investigative report by Hindenburg Research, which exposed Nikola's deceptive communication practices. The most infamous episode involved a promotional video showing a truck apparently driving on its own, which was in fact a non-functional vehicle rolling downhill.
Trump justified the pardon by citing what he called the “politicisation of the Department of Justice” and claimed Milton had been subjected to unfair judicial treatment. However, the clemency not only annulled the prison sentence but also lifted the obligation to compensate the victims of the fraud, whose total losses are estimated to exceed half a billion dollars. The decision sparked outrage among investors, legal experts and sections of the public. Despite the pardon, Milton remains a defendant in a class-action lawsuit filed by Nikola shareholders seeking justice through civil proceedings.
Adding fuel to the controversy were the substantial donations made by Milton and his wife to Trump’s 2024 election campaign. The total contributions exceeded 1.8 million dollars: 920,000 dollars to the “Trump 47 Committee” – a body supporting both Trump’s presidential run and the Republican National Committee – and another 750,000 dollars to the Maha Alliance, a political committee formed to court supporters of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after he withdrew from the race.
The Milton case has had significant repercussions for the transport and sustainable mobility sector. Nikola Corporation had once been touted as a future leader in the shift towards zero-emission vehicles, with ambitious plans focused on hydrogen and electric power for heavy-duty transport. The collapse in credibility of both the company and its founder dealt a heavy blow to the public image of these new technologies in freight logistics. Moreover, the legal and political precedent set by the pardon risks undermining investor confidence in institutional oversight of start-ups and high-risk ventures, especially in technologically advanced but still fragile industries.
