Facebook Post Read:
Trump pardoned a man who was ordered to pay 650 million to investors he defrauded.
The Post is mostly true with an incorrect detail:
The incorrect detail is that this man had not been ordered to pay anything yet. And therein lies the crux of this whole case. If he had been ordered to pay, he could not have been pardoned.
This post most likely is referring to the case against Trevor Milton, the founder of Nikola.
Milton was convicted and sentenced in a federal fraud case in 2022-2023. Federal prosecution had asked a judge to order Milton to pay about $680 million to investors he had cheated. However, the restitution amount had not been determined and the judge had not formally ordered Milton to pay when Trump pardoned him. Because the pardon was made in March 27, 2025, before the judge made the determination, the pardon erased the federal criminal conviction, ended the prison sentence and halted criminal restitution enforcement tied to the conviction.
Interesting Note:
In 2024 before the election Trevor and his wife made donations of $1.8 million to Trump-related political committees.