What you need to know:
- Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola Motors and recently pardoned by President Trump, is facing a subpoena from Nikola's bankruptcy creditors.
- Milton resigned from Nikola in 2020 following fraud allegations. He was convicted of securities and wire fraud in 2023, receiving a 4-year prison sentence and a $1 million fine.
- Nikola's bankruptcy creditors claim Milton still owes the company nearly $100 million, stemming from a 2023 arbitration ruling. The subpoena aims to assess his financial status.
- Nikola settled with the SEC in 2023 over misleading SPAC-related claims, but shareholder lawsuits remain unresolved. Milton’s arbitration award was expected to help settle them.
Trevor Milton, the recently pardoned founder of now-bankrupt Nikola Motors is under renewed pressure, this time in the form of a subpoena from the company's bankruptcy creditors.
[Related: Nikola's collapse brings headaches, financial problems for fleets]
As a brief recap, Milton resigned as Nikola executive chairman in 2020 following allegations against him by short-seller firm Hindenburg Research, which immediately sparked an SEC investigation.
He was sentenced to four years in prison and a $1 million fine in 2023 after a New York jury found him guilty of securities and wire fraud. President Trump pardoned him in March, though not without controversy.
Milton and his wife donated $1.8 million to a pro-Trump PAC less than one month before the 2024 election. President Trump stated in a March 28 press conference that Milton's support played a role in his decision.
According to a new report from TechCrunch, the official committee of unsecured creditors in Nikola's bankruptcy case sent the subpoena to Milton's legal team on April 1. The filing states Milton owed Nikola almost $100 million prior to its February bankruptcy. This followed a 2023 arbitration case involving his criminal conviction.
The committee claims Milton failed to pay up, and the subpoena's purpose is to get to the bottom of his current financial situation.
Milton attempted to buy back Nikola following his presidential pardon last April but failed to do so. Lucid Group ultimately won the auction for Nikola's assets and 300 of its employees.
Per the original report, this "has left the arbitration award as one of the largest, and crucial, remaining assets in Nikola’s estate."
Nikola settled last year with the Securities and Exchange Commission from a class action lawsuit regarding misleading claims it made while preparing to go public in 2020 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that raised over $700 million.
The shareholder lawsuit, however, remain unsettled when Nikola declared bankruptcy. Milton's arbitration award was initially intended to be used to settle with shareholders, but the creditor committee's filing states he "has to pay a cent."
We'll definitely be hearing more from Milton later this month. Earlier this week, he announced the June 10 release of "Conviction or Conspiracy - The Trevor Milton Saga," a self-funded and produced documentary aiming to offer "rare insight into high-stakes innovation, government trials, corporate power plays, media trials, and the evolving intersection of law and public opinion."
The documentary will be free to view on YouTube.
