Pardoned Nikola founder Trevor Milton targets $1B to build AI-powered jets
What's the deal? Trevor Milton, the founder of Nikola once convicted of fraud, is mounting a comeback after receiving an unconditional pardon from Donald Trump in March 2025. He is now chief executive of SyberJet AircraftDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a struggling aviation company he acquired with an investment group, and is seeking to raise $1 billion at a reported $4 billion valuation.
Milton plans to develop a new light jet focused on AI-powered flight, alongside a potential autonomous military aircraft. The effort includes building a new avionics system from scratch and hiring former Nikola staff to reboot the company.
Why now? The push comes roughly a year after Milton's pardon erased his conviction and financial penalties, giving him a clean slate to re-enter business. It coincides with rising investor and government appetite for AI-driven systems in aviation and defence — a market Milton is now actively courting, including at a Saudi investment forum in November 2025.
He has also ramped up lobbying, spending $490,000 since June 2025 to promote AI-based flight systems to government. The timing reflects both renewed personal momentum and broader market appetite for advanced aerospace technologies.
What could go wrong? The odds are against it. SyberJet has struggled for decades with funding, supply chains, and production — delivering only four aircraft — and Milton's track record at Nikola, which collapsed amid fraud allegations, raises further doubt. Legal disputes from that era continue, and Milton himself admits the venture has a high chance of failure due to regulation, funding gaps, and technical complexity.
The signal: The comeback highlights how capital and attention can return quickly to controversial founders, especially in frontier sectors like AI and aerospace. It also underscores a growing convergence between software and aviation, where companies are attempting to replicate the vertically integrated model seen in electric vehicles. Whether this becomes a breakthrough or another cautionary tale will depend on execution — and trust.
Sources:
WSJ
TechCrunch
A.M.
