Trevor Milton, a large Republican donor sentenced by a federal jury in 2022 by deceiving investors to the Nikola electric truck manufacturer, received a favor from President Trump, the White House said on Friday.
Mr Milton, founder and former chief executive of Nikola, was sentenced to four years in prison and imposed a fine of $ 1 million after being convicted by a New York jury with fraud in titles and two measurements of fraud. He was free with a guarantee, while appealing to conviction.
In addition to rescuing Mr Milton Time in prison, Harry means that he will not be forced to comply with a court ruling to offset the shareholders in Nikla, who lost tens of millions of dollars after Nikola’s share price collapse. It still faces political lawsuits.
Mr Milton was accused of drawing on the value of the Nikola stock, making outrageous claims for the company, including having original work -free labor, had billions of dollars of binding orders and producing low -cost hydrogen fuel. These statements were false, prosecutors supported during the trial.
Mr Milton argued that he did nothing wrong and his lawyers claimed he was simply excessive for his company’s prospects.
Nikola operated with a new administration, after Mr Milton resigned in 2020 after a report by the Hindenburg Research investment fund who accused him of making numerous false allegations. Among other things, Mr Milton was accused of producing a video in which a truck showed that he was rolling down a hill, creating the impression that the company had developed an original work.
The company was never able to build and sell enough trucks to make profitable and deposit bankruptcy in February. Nikola told the judicial deposits that it intends to sell many or all its assets.
When asked why he gave Mr Milton, Mr Trump said on Friday that he is “particularly recommended” by many people and suggested that his prosecution was political. “They say that the thing he did wrong was that he was one of the first people to support a gentleman called Donald Trump for a president,” Mr Trump told the Oval Office. “Support Trump. He liked Trump.”
“I had these fantastic recommendations for him from people you know very well, all people top people,” Trump said. “They thought it was a horrible thing.”
Since 2016, Mr Milton has contributed $ 2.85 million to a long list of conservative elected officials, political action committees and state democratic committees, according to federal campaign records.
This includes at least $ 930,000 donated to the Trump campaign or political action committees that supported Mr Trump’s candidacy and another $ 285,000 to the Republican National Committee, according to the records.
Telecommunicator They contributed reports.
