The US Securities and Exchange Comission (SEC) has dropped its fraud case against Nikola‘s founder and former CEO Trevor Milton, after Trump’s pardon six months ago.
Trevor Milton, who had been convicted of securities fraud, received a pardon from the US President Donald Trump in March, a month after the Phoenix-based electric and hydrogen truck maker Nikola filed for bankrupcy.
The full and unconditional presidential pardon overturned a four-year prison sentence, imposed in December 2023, for deceiving investors about the company’s progress and products.
In an X post this Tuesday, the company’s founder said that “the SEC has dropped their case against me with prejudice.”
“5 years of outright lies by the media, corrupt prosecutors, former Nikola executives and short sellers is finally over,” he wrote.
Milton added that he comes “out of this thankful to my God for one more day in this life and for such a wonderful family and wife who never backed down against the evil men behind this.” (Read the full statement below.)
As the company deals with the Chapter 11 plan in a Delaware bankrupcy court, Milton asked for a $69 million indemnification in legal fees against Nikola, which the company has pushed back.
According to Nikola, Milton’s demand is invalid, as the ex-executive acted in a “grossly negligent, reckless” behaviour, engaging in “bad faith actions” during his time at the company.
However, last month, he argued that the bankrupcy plan does not fully reflect the presidential pardon he received.
“I don’t know him, but I was… they say it was very unfair. And they say the thing that he did wrong was he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president,” the President said then.
The filing last month noted that “President Trump expressly decided here that Milton is factually innocent, the pardon did, contrary to the debtors’ assertions, wipe the slate clean.”
In May, Nikola‘s creditors committee asked the bankrupcy court to investigate whether Milton was dissipating personal assets that should be used to satisfy his debt to the company.
Milton stepped down from CEO in 2020, after allegations from Hindenburg Research that accused him of repeatedly misrepresenting Nikola‘s technological capabilities.
Read Trevor Milton’s X statement below:
“The SEC has dropped their case against me with prejudice. 5 years of outright lies by the media, corrupt prosecutors, former Nikola executives and short sellers is finally over.
They falsely indicted me, silenced me, deleted my followers including here on X, stole my company, bankrupted my company, debanked me, targeted my friends and family, stole most my wealth and tried to put me in prison.
But it’s over now and eventually our creator will make it right.
I come out of this thankful to my God for one more day in this life and for such a wonderful family and wife who never backed down against the evil men behind this.”