Nikola Founder Trevor Milton Attempts Aviation Comeback with AI Plane Startup After Trump Pardon

He reportedly wants to design an entirely new avionics system from the ground up that will help the company create the “first light jet to focus on artificial-intelligence flight,” which could open the door for defense contracts. But Milton, who was convicted of fraud in 2022 for making false statements about Nikola’s technology and capabilities, told the newspaper that he thinks planes will be “10 times harder than Nikola ever was.”

The return to entrepreneurship comes despite Milton’s criminal history, which involved lying to investors about Nikola’s hydrogen fuel cell technology and faking demonstrations of the company’s electric trucks. He was sentenced to four years in prison but served less than a year before Trump pardoned him in early 2025.

The audacious pivot into aviation and defense contracting raises questions about whether investors and government agencies will trust Milton after his previous venture collapsed amid fraud allegations that wiped out billions in shareholder value. His acknowledgment that planes will be far more difficult than Nikola may offer little comfort to those who lost money when that company imploded.