Trevor Milton Hires Lawyers That Represented Elon Musk, Donald Trump And Sells Nikola Shares

The founder and former CEO of Nikola Corporation NKLA was recently arrested on fraud charges. Trevor Milton has hired a legal team with a history of defending some of the largest names.

What Happened: Trevor Milton’s legal team includes Terence Healy, who represented Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk. The team also includes Brad Bondi, who served as Tesla’s counsel.

The team helped defend Musk and Tesla after the Tesla CEO made a tweet that he had secured funding to take the electric vehicle company private. The legal team helped negotiate a settlement that saw Musk step down as chairman and agree to have someone monitor his tweets. Tesla paid a $20 million fine.

The legal team for Milton also includes Marc Muskasey, who is a part of the team advising Donald Trump in several legal matters including a criminal case brought against the Trump Company by the office of the Manhattan (New York) District Attorney.

Milton stepped down from Nikola in September. He currently faces criminal charges for misleading investors and was sued by the SEC.

Milton was freed on $100 million bail and awaits his trial.

Related Link: Nikola Founder Trevor Milton Indicted On Fraud Charges 

Why It’s Important: Some of the allegations against Milton center on tweets he made about Nikola adding a drinking fountain to a Nikola electric truck and misleading investors.

The new legal team has experience with discussing how Musk’s tweets did not represent the company and were able to settle, which could be what they are seeking here in Milton’s case.

Healy previously worked at the SEC and U.S. Justice Department. Bondi was previously a SEC lawyer. Their experiences working at the SEC could help the legal team come to an arrangement for Milton.

Milton sold $77 million worth of Nikola shares recently. The sale was disclosed in a SEC filing on Friday. Six days before he was officially charged, Milton transferred 1.15 million Nikola shares to his wife.

Milton remains a large shareholder in Nikola stock.

Price Action: NKLA shares are up 3.21% to $10.61 Monday.

Photo: Courtesy of Nikola Corporation