Founder Profile
Trevor Milton
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Trevor Milton?
Trevor Milton is a founder of Nikola Corporation, which was founded in 2014.
- Company founded
- Nikola Corporation
- Founded
- 2014
Background
American fraudster and former CEO.
Founding Story
Trevor Milton founded Nikola in 2014, aggressively positioning the company as the absolute direct 'Tesla-killer' for the commercial trucking industry. Utilizing massive hype and highly deceptive marketing (including famously rolling a truck down a hill to pretend it was functional), he took the company public and briefly became a multi-billionaire before being exposed by short-sellers, convicted of massive federal securities and wire fraud, and sentenced to four years in federal prison in 2023.
Trevor Milton was born in 1982 in Layton. Education: Utah Valley University.
Trevor Robert Milton was born on April 6, 1982. He resigned as executive chairman in 2020 after regulatory inquiries and was found guilty of securities and wire fraud in 2022. He is also chief executive of SyberJet Aircraft, a Utah company developing business jets.