Home » ‘I Am One Quarter Cherokee:’ Nikola Founder Gives Unhinged Statement After Being Sentenced To Prison

‘I Am One Quarter Cherokee:’ Nikola Founder Gives Unhinged Statement After Being Sentenced To Prison

Trevor Milton Ts2
ADVERTISEMENT

Trevor Milton, founder of alternative-fuel vehicle startup Nikola, was sentenced on Monday to four years in prison for two counts of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud. Milton was also ordered to pay a $1M fine in addition to serving time. Normally, this would be the sort of bite-sized tidbit reserved for The Morning Dump, but, um, things got weird.

In case you aren’t familiar with Nikola, let me give you a brief summary. This alternative fuel vehicle startup was founded by Milton, went public in 2020 via SPAC, and was quickly found out to have lied about some fairly important things. A Hindenburg Research report claimed that the Nikola One truck was made to look functional by just rolling it down a hill, and that was later confirmed by Nikola itself. From there, the stock value plummeted, the SEC mounted an investigation, and we eventually ended up here, with Milton’s sentencing.

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

While we’ve all said some things we probably shouldn’t have in moments of desperation, it’s usually stuff like denying the passing of gas, or attempting not to make it obvious to your manager that you’re massively hungover. What Milton reportedly said in the courtroom, as per Inner City Press on the social media network formerly known as Twitter? Well, some of it reads like a Nick Mullen bit.

As I reflect on my heritage, sorry your Honor, I never had to talk about these things before. I am one-quarter Cherokee, there was ethnic cleansing against my ancestors.

My people were driven into Oklahoma. The trauma is visible on reservations. The generational trauma ended with my mother, she refused to pass it down to her children. From the time I was young, I had an unusually tender heart.

In the third grade, I saw “Where the Red Fern Grows.” I cried, and others laughed at me. I knew I would never be understood. Then my mother got stick. There was morphine for cancer. The doctors removed my mother’s breasts. She was bald.

Whew, there’s a lot to digest here, so let’s take a step back and chew the fat. The atrocities against indigenous people are terrible. I fail to see how rolling a truck down a hill connects to that. Any normal human being should cry at a film where dogs die, because that’s a normal response. It’s unfortunate about his mother.

ADVERTISEMENT

Next, things get religious, because you just knew this was going to happen. However, it doesn’t seem like Milton thinks he’s going to hell.

My mother said there are colors in heaven that don’t exist on Earth. Your purity is broadcast in colors. For the first time in my life, excuse me, for the first time in your life, you are reviewed totally. Those who sought destruction were filth.

The process of repentance can take thousands of years on the other side. It is called Hell. Each decision is broadcast to billions of God’s creations. Our ability to absorb information is almost infinite. From that point on, I remember everything.

One day my decision will be broadcast in Heaven for everyone to see. I did not commit those crimes. I’m not dispute the verdict — I’m letting you know I didn’t do them.

Oh boy. I’m not even sure where to begin with this, and I’m not sure if I want to kick the hornets’ nest. Anyway, this evangelical reprieve comes sandwiched between two instances of comparing himself attempting to tie his fate to the fate of people of color.

Rubin Carter, one of the greatest African American boxers, was framed — he was found guilty by a jury too. In 1995, Black and Latino teenagers were convicted right here in NYC. Their reputations were destroyed. DNA exonerated them. The Five.

There is zero evidence that this is a race thing. Milton’s case doesn’t share any circumstances with those of Carter or the Central Park jogger case. It was a pretty well-documented case that ended up reaching the verdict that Milton had misled investors. It doesn’t carry the sort of sentence you’d see from a murder or attempted murder conviction.

Nikola One

Milton then reportedly went on to make a claim as to why he stepped down from his role at Nikola, alleging it was to take care of his wife following a bad plasma-related incident.

ADVERTISEMENT

I stepped down because my wife was suffering life-threatening sickness. She suffered medical malpractice, someone else’s plasma. So I stepped down for that – not because I was a fraud. The truth matters. I chose my wife over money or power.

Stepping away from work to take care of a loved one is a noble thing to do, but it doesn’t exactly un-mislead investors or answer past sexual assault allegations. Anyway, white collar crime is bad, the courts have done their thing, and it looks like Trevor Milton is going away for a few years. Otherwise, I have no words. This is just a bizarre story, and I write about stuff like Brazilian-market Volkswagen-based pickup trucks for a living.

(Photo credits: Nikola/YouTube)

Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.

Relatedbar

Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage.

ADVERTISEMENT
Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on whatsapp
WhatsApp
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn
Share on reddit
Reddit
Subscribe
Notify of
77 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Col Lingus
Col Lingus
11 months ago

He may be part Cherokee, but he is 100% an asswipe.
I hope he enjoys being someone’s girlfriend in the joint.

Christocyclist
Christocyclist
11 months ago

I knew that this guy was a grifter, but I just read the linked article about his past sexual assault allegations and… wow. This guy is first class creep and aspirational pedophile it seems.

Rafael
Rafael
11 months ago

Not my place to judge anyone’s stated ancestry, but pulling this card from his posterior during a trial, and adding cancer mom, weird religion and sick wife cards to the deck… Feels like the kid who justified a missed homework assignment with “my dog ate it, my granny died and I fell down the stairs”.
Pick one card, dude!

Mercedes Streeter
Mercedes Streeter
11 months ago
Reply to  Rafael

“My granny ate it, my dog fell down the stairs, and I died.”

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
11 months ago
Reply to  Rafael

He should have added that he’s also Jew-ish because he eats bagels sometimes, and his mom was also killed twice on 9/11. I think that stuff has been proven to work

Spartanjohn113
Spartanjohn113
11 months ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

Have you ever seen Trevor Milton and George Santos in a room at the same time? I sure haven’t.

SNL-LOL Jr
SNL-LOL Jr
11 months ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

He also won all the Nobel prizes at MIT while playing volleyball for Baruch.

Col Lingus
Col Lingus
11 months ago
Reply to  Rafael

Throwing shit against the wall, and hoping something sticks. What a sad douche.

Harvey Park Bench
Harvey Park Bench
11 months ago

> I write about stuff like Brazilian-market Volkswagen-based pickup trucks for a living.

I had to double check the byline because I thought that was a Jason piece.

Rafael
Rafael
11 months ago

Same here, but it seems that this particular flavour oc madness has spread to the rest of the writers. Yay!

Not Sure
Not Sure
11 months ago

So… the use of the word gimmick is click bait, but this barely car related, socially infuriating article is just fine?
Paging Mr. Tracy….

Mark Jacob
Mark Jacob
11 months ago
Reply to  Not Sure

What are you complaining about?

Not Sure
Not Sure
11 months ago
Reply to  Mark Jacob

I think my grievance is pretty clear
if you’re paying attention.

Last edited 11 months ago by Not Sure
Harvey Park Bench
Harvey Park Bench
11 months ago
Reply to  Not Sure

Huh?

Not Sure
Not Sure
11 months ago
Reply to  Not Sure

I’m not sure.

Brandon Forbes
Brandon Forbes
11 months ago
Reply to  Not Sure

Yes. It is fine. If you don’t agree then don’t click on it…

Not Sure
Not Sure
11 months ago
Reply to  Brandon Forbes

Seriously?
This article had absolutely nothing to do with automotive news and or culture.
It’s clearly just a piss pot for X like comments and clicks.
I come here explicitly to escape that type of useless social diversion.
Obtuse individuals always use that line…

“If you don’t agree then don’t click on it”

That’s a weak argument at best and a sure way to show your ignorance to anyone that doesn’t agree with you.

If I only clicked on internet articles I agreed with I’m pretty sure I’d become a complete moron in no time.

Brandon Forbes
Brandon Forbes
11 months ago
Reply to  Not Sure

Dude founded an EV company. He broke the law when taking said car company public, and is now going to jail. Your argument is akin to saying Delorean trafficking cocaine isn’t relevant to the history of Delorean.

I don’t mean you should only read articles you agree with, but if you think it’s the “useless social diversion” you try to avoid, then freaking avoid it. It’s really not hard.

Not Sure
Not Sure
11 months ago
Reply to  Not Sure

He’s got a good point. How bout you just don’t click on it.

sentinelTk
sentinelTk
11 months ago
Reply to  Not Sure

Found that guy ^^^^

Seriously, you should be stripped of your Zoidberg.

Not Sure
Not Sure
11 months ago
Reply to  sentinelTk

You clearly don’t understand nuance.

Not Sure
Not Sure
11 months ago
Reply to  Not Sure

Where are you going with this?
Nuance?

Not Sure
Not Sure
11 months ago
Reply to  sentinelTk

Found the moron!

Not Sure
Not Sure
11 months ago
Reply to  Not Sure

He’s right behind the mirror.
Right there.
Do you see him?
That guy pointing right at us.

Not Sure
Not Sure
11 months ago
Reply to  Not Sure

We’ve been stripped of our Zoidberg!

Not Sure
Not Sure
11 months ago
Reply to  Not Sure

Kind of deserved it though.
With all the nonsense and what not.

SirRaoulDuke
SirRaoulDuke
11 months ago

My mother said there are colors in heaven that don’t exist on Earth. Your purity is broadcast in colors.”

Dude, your mom was into shrooms.

Maymar
Maymar
11 months ago

I heard DT was 1/32 Cherokee.

But also, like 1/25 Grand Cherokee and 1/18 Wagoneer/J10.

Roofless
Roofless
11 months ago
Reply to  Maymar

Yeah, it’s the danger of working on all those old rust buckets – enough scrapes and cuts over the years that the man’s literally actually got jeeps in his blood.

Barry Allen
Barry Allen
11 months ago
Reply to  Maymar

Good one!

Rafael
Rafael
11 months ago
Reply to  Maymar

By rust particulate aspiration alone I would say he is 1/16 by weight!

Brandon Forbes
Brandon Forbes
11 months ago
Reply to  Maymar

How was this not the COTD???

Mercedes Streeter
Mercedes Streeter
11 months ago
Reply to  Brandon Forbes

That comment was posted about 13 hours ago, which was, unfortunately, after I wrote the day’s COTD. It could still be today’s COTD! 😉

Brandon Forbes
Brandon Forbes
11 months ago

Well that makes sense. Didn’t look at the timeline.

sentinelTk
sentinelTk
11 months ago
Reply to  Maymar

12/57 WD40………1/7 RUST.

Maymar
Maymar
11 months ago
Reply to  sentinelTk

I thought it was established his blood type was PB Blaster, not WD40.

TOSSABL
TOSSABL
11 months ago

This kind of unhinged shit is usually part of the closing statements of someone so disconnected from reality that they insist upon representing themselves despite repeated warnings from, well, everyone.

Last edited 11 months ago by TOSSABL
Harvey Park Bench
Harvey Park Bench
11 months ago
Reply to  TOSSABL

He’s not unhinged. He’s a very talented and experienced scam artist who started grifting well before Nikola.

TOSSABL
TOSSABL
11 months ago

That is as may be, but his patter here doesn’t seem to further his career much. Unless it’s a prelude to some sort of insanity defense or mitigation of sentence.

Pupmeow
Pupmeow
11 months ago

He can be both.

Andy Individual
Andy Individual
11 months ago

What’s with these Criminal Jerks claiming victim hood to Wrangle their way out of their misdeeds?

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
11 months ago

What does he have to lose by trying?

Griznant
Griznant
11 months ago

He’s definitely a Renegade in his field and really needs a Compass to find his way out of this one.

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
11 months ago

They´re coming to take me away,
Haha, they´re coming to take me away,
Ho ho, hee hee, ha ha,
To the happy home with trees and flowers
And chirping birds and basket weavers
Who sit and smile and
Twiddle their thumbs and toes
And they´re coming to take me away,
HAHAAAAAAAAA

Nic Periton
Nic Periton
11 months ago

Brilliantly I have just managed to end a phone call with my late partners mother. I suggested that she should travel away and set up an electric trucking company in Oklahoma. She seemed happy and there is something very satisfying about watching a robot sweep up a sledgehammered mobile telephone.

Doctor Nine
Doctor Nine
11 months ago

White assholes trying to buy sympathy by claiming a slice of identity politics are perhaps the most bizarre beasts of our contemporary sociological ecology.

I always want to ask them how they thought it could even possibly work.

SMDH…

Goblin
Goblin
11 months ago

I saw a documentary eons ago – Andrei Chekatilo had a very similar avalanche of words as his last words in court, it’s just that he was a bit angrier. I really hope the resemblance ends here.

Vetatur Fumare
Vetatur Fumare
11 months ago
Reply to  Goblin

I’d forgotten about that particular charmer. Thanks, I guess…

Citrus
Citrus
11 months ago

Did… Did he just drop acid and watch Pocahontas?

Slow Joe Crow
Slow Joe Crow
11 months ago

Will Hayden (Sons of Guns) claiming to be part Choctaw didn’t save him from multiple life sentences for child sex charges, being part Cherokee should have no effect on Trevor Milton’s sentence.

Harvey Park Bench
Harvey Park Bench
11 months ago
Reply to  Slow Joe Crow

100% chance he’s nothing but a white guy, whose mom never had cancer, and whose wife had a booboo where the IV line went in because the phlebotomist was tired of dealing with Trevor’s caterwauling next to her.

Hamish48
Hamish48
11 months ago

it’s called the George Santos Syndrome

Chronometric
Chronometric
11 months ago

I have no sympathy for his victims because everyone could see it was a scam. I have no sympathy for him because he’s a psycho egomaniac would would sell his mother’s last breath.

I do have sympathy for those of us that have to repeatedly hear about Elio Motors, Faraday Future, Lightyear, Lordstown, Aptera, or any other obvious scamware.

Last edited 11 months ago by Chronometric
Mike Harrell
Mike Harrell
11 months ago
Reply to  Chronometric

A decade or so ago the Elio Motors folks came through town with their prototype as part of a nationwide tour. I showed up wearing my HMV Freeway t-shirt and got in line to sit in their vehicle. A couple of the staff noticed my shirt and quite good-naturedly mentioned that there had been Freeway enthusiasts at pretty much every one of their stops so far.

The main difference at the time, of course, and still the main difference today, is that HMV actually produced and sold several hundred vehicles.

Jakob K's Garage
Jakob K's Garage
11 months ago
Reply to  Mike Harrell

You should have worn the Dale t-shirt then 😉

Mike Harrell
Mike Harrell
11 months ago

For some reason I keep getting told it hasn’t quite shipped yet.

Zelda Bumperthumper
Zelda Bumperthumper
11 months ago
Reply to  Chronometric

Don’t forget Carbon Motors. The other site was super into that shit for a while, despite it being obvious bullshit.

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
11 months ago

Carbon’s business model was insane, I remembered they exhibited at a police chiefs convention and had almost zero foot traffic vs the Ford Fleet display nearby, it was obvious there was nothing to support what they were planning. Was kind of sad, except not really, because it was probably what the folks behind the company intended all along, raise money, pay self, get away when it collapses

Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
11 months ago
Reply to  Chronometric

Hearing about scams is how people learn to recognize scams the easy way. Would you prefer to learn the hard way?

Chronometric
Chronometric
11 months ago
Reply to  Cheap Bastard

Most of the news sites do not want to be sued so they cover these companies like they are real. A balanced approach would point out a) lack of funding, b) lack of facilities, c) previous lies, d) technical hurdles, e) company resources (personnel, patents, working prototypes, f) likely market competition, g) success or failure of similar ventures.

Mike Smith
Mike Smith
11 months ago

A large number of venture capitalists, who are supposed to have expertise in judging risk vs. reward and commit large amounts of money based on those judgements, talked to this guy and decided to front him multiple containerloads of money. From this I draw two conclusions;

1) Our financial system is irredeemably borked.
2) Boy oh boy am I in the wrong racket…

Harvey Park Bench
Harvey Park Bench
11 months ago
Reply to  Mike Smith

.

Last edited 11 months ago by Harvey Park Bench
Not Sure
Not Sure
11 months ago

-delete-

Last edited 11 months ago by Not Sure
10001010
10001010
11 months ago

This guy was somehow able to ply $$$$ away from investors with his words?

Mike Smith
Mike Smith
11 months ago
Reply to  10001010

“Hey babe, I negotiate million dollar deals for breakfast. I think I can handle this Eurotrash. Hey, sprechen ze talk, huh?”
“Hans, Bubby, I’m your white knight!”

  • Harry Ellis, Nakitomi Tower Trevor Milton, probably.
Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
11 months ago

Well, he is at least correct about the significance of colors – after all, humankind is simply materialized color operating on the 49th vibration, but that’s all pretty self-explanatory.

CandleCamper
CandleCamper
11 months ago
Reply to  Ranwhenparked

I came to that conclusion just walking down the street.

Sklooner
Sklooner
11 months ago

That meth doesn’t take itself

Not Sure
Not Sure
11 months ago
Reply to  Sklooner

Definitely not. You don’t take meth, you smoke it..
like this….

Last edited 11 months ago by Not Sure
Cheap Bastard
Cheap Bastard
11 months ago
Reply to  Not Sure

“You don’t take meth, you smoke it..”

Unless you fight for Nazis.

https://time.com/5752114/nazi-military-drugs/

Blitzkrieg anyone?

notoriousDUG
notoriousDUG
11 months ago

It is nice to see he’s in touch with reality.
I mean not this one.
But A reality so…

Andrew Daisuke
Andrew Daisuke
11 months ago

In the immortal words of Tyrese Gibson in F&F2; “don’t drop the soap homie”

Alec Rosenbaum
Alec Rosenbaum
11 months ago

Huh the how the who the what-now?

Lokki
Lokki
11 months ago

Should have tried the Insanity Defense BEFORE the trial

77
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x