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Pardoned for Fraud, a CEO Mounts His Comeback: 'We Can Trust You Now'

https://www.wsj.com/business/trevor-milton-pardon-nikola-trump-3163e19c
32•jgalt212•1h ago

Comments

jgalt212•1h ago
> "There's a sucker born every minute" is a quotation often associated with American showman P. T. Barnum (1810-1891), although there is no evidence that he actually said it. Early instances of its use are found among salesmen, gamblers and confidence tricksters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_sucker_born_every_...

NickC25•1h ago
I'm sorry, but anyone Donald Trump has pardoned for fraud should not be trusted at all. It's literally a matter of "game recognizes game". If Donald Trump gets a cut of the fraud, that's all that matters to him.
boca_honey•22m ago
That's was the article said. I think you understood it incorrectly.
maxweylandt•1h ago
https://archive.is/https://www.wsj.com/business/trevor-milto...
kotaKat•1h ago
"Investor documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal said the goal is for the plane to be the first light jet to focus on artificial-intelligence flight."

Oh cool, can't wait for the vibe-coded autopilot to CFIT into the Rockies or dump itself into the ocean that it thought was totally a runway while a completely untrained, inexperienced hot shot with $10 million to blow flies this generation's V-tailed doctor killer[1] to their final destination.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Bonanza

nhinck3•49m ago
Sounds like he's on the verge of developing a valuable product then.
crote•21m ago
What is it even supposed to mean?

Airplanes have had autopilot (the genuine kind, not Musk's snake oil) for ages now. Commercial airlines have been using autoland on well-equipped airports for decades. Garmin's fully autonomous emergency autoland has already saved a few Cessna owners' lives. With the ongoing adoption of CPDLC the ATC-to-pilot link is also actively being automated and standardized.

There are no big technical hurdles left to solve! The main thing preventing fully-automated flight from taking off is the industry and regulators (rightfully) being incredibly conservative, and preferring paying pilots over the horrible PR fallout of an incident aboard an automated flight killing hundreds of people. Artificial intelligence isn't going to be of any help here!

kotaKat•13m ago
The technical hurdle to solve they feel is getting the barrier to 'flying' dumbed down even more. They want this to be something that Joe off the street can get in with minimal flight training and go zip around in a high performance jet once their vesting clears and they can cash out a few mill.

So... basically, an even more digital cockpit with more touchscreens and less verbatim information presentation on the screens. Why give you multiple engine gauges for N1, N2, temps, etc, when we can just give you one dumb "Thrust" gauge? Why make programming the autopilot a fifteen day course on the ground when you can just have a LLM figure out what your flight plan should be and punch it all in automatically?

It's like how Cirrus positions themselves to be the family SUV of the skies with their products and falls back on "just pull the chute / push the Autoland button, bro".

6510•20m ago
You are missing the advantage of having an AI to blame everything on.
JoshGG•1h ago
Says a lot about whether you can trust the WSJ.
schmidtleonard•46m ago
"Convicted fraudster pardons convicted fraudster therefore you can trust convicted fraudster."

Wild!

ttubrian•38m ago
'We Can Trust You Now' is a quote in the story from the subject. The subject himself claims:

“I walk into meetings now, and I’ll get high-fives from the most wealthy people in the world,” he said. “They’re like, ‘Welcome to the club. You can withstand the fire. We can trust you now.’”

The WSJ interviewed him and is reporting information about his past. I think the article portrays him as extremely shady and untrustworthy. Not sure what you could be seeing here to demean the WSJ.

superxpro12•33m ago
Shades of Goodfellas when Henry did his time and was welcomed back with open arms.
huhkerrf•16m ago
There's a school of thought that reporting on a bad person without coming out and saying "this is a bad person" is akin to endorsing that person.

Myself, I think people are mature enough to be able to read past a headline and come away from this with a clear eyed view of this fraudster.

boca_honey•23m ago
Why would you say that? The article was basically a hit piece on the guy. "We can trust you" was a quote from an associate, as you surely remember from when you read the whole article.
Zealotux•56m ago
Fool me once, shame on you...
jadbox•46m ago
The favor trading is blatant without shame. The most corrupt administration in American history by any measure.
etempleton•37m ago
In my experience, people who are compulsive liars or those who are willing to make large or repeated deceptions for personal gain never change. It is as natural to them as breathing. Some of them I am quite convinced believe their lies, but the net result is the same.

I don't know Trevor Milton. I have never met him. Maybe he isn't a compulsive liar but just got in over his head and was trying to make it work. But I know I would never invest in something he is doing.

hliyan•18m ago
Isn't this also in line with recent proclamations by at least two venture capitalists that they do not reflect / introspect / dwell on consequences in any way?
some_random•32m ago
Just for once I want "CEO convicted of fraud making their comeback" to come back with some really boring business. Like, I want Elizabeth Holmes to serve out her sentence then come out swinging to raise funds to vertically integrate pallet construction.
jlarocco•3m ago
If there were any justice, after jail these fraudsters would be working low paying jobs like fast food and retail, and the CEO jobs would go to people who haven't been convicted of fraud.

But of course they'll leverage their connections and get high paying jobs like in this case.

close04•25m ago
> Trevor Milton’s conviction for defrauding investors in truck company Nikola was wiped away

Best justice money can buy.

> He’s now raising funds for a new jet he claims will transform flying

With his history building the "truck that can roll unpowered down a hill" I shudder to think just how his jet would transform flying.

PatentlyDC123•14m ago
The old Buzz Lightyear: falling, with style
hermannj314•23m ago
The President has plenary authority to grant pardons and I imagine a time, in the near future, when questioning any authority of this administration would he deemed an act of treason.

Therefore, I wish only the best of luck to never-committed-a-crime Trevor Milton and to the infallibility of our dear leader in his wise and judicious use of the power he has been given by God and the Constitution.

game_the0ry•22m ago
I struggle to understand the psychology of how founders who are clearly incompetent charlatans get second+ chances -- they couldn't do fraud successfully but investors have a faith they could do business successfully. But they still get funding (like adam neumann of wework fame) and full on "narrative tongue baths" by the business media community (like this wsj article on trevor milton).

Why? I struggle to understand the incentives + motivations here.

elzbardico•20m ago
Having a great exit is the golden dream for VCs.

But having founders that raise lots of money also have a value in itself even if the business fails in the long run.

ahf8Aithaex7Nai•14m ago
The reason for this is the same as why real estate is so expensive and the price of gold is so high. There is far too much capital accumulation among the ultra-wealthy, who don’t know what to do with all that money. The expertise of someone like this founder lies simply in recognizing that this is the case and that it can be monetized.
alex_c•14m ago
The past failure is in the abstract, and in the past. And anyway, they were unfairly maligned. There is an inside version of the story that they will be happy to tell you, which was clearly not their fault.

But that is neither here nor there. What is important is the now, and in the now you are in the presence of someone who is Good At Making Money. And you too, by joining forces, will be Making Lots Of Money with this charismatic person, who can clearly achieve great things and will be clearly avoiding any past missteps that may have caused their downfall right before reaching greatness (but weren’t their fault anyway).

Think of the future, not the past!

jongjong•9m ago
I just can't comprehend the mental process or discussion that happened which led to this guy getting a pardon.

It's just hard to imagine that anybody would give a f about this fraudster. Only explanation is he must know some dirt on someone.

It's clear now. Modern society runs on blackmail. There's a blackmail hierarchy all the way to the top.

I bet there are many people out there just making a living from just knowing dirt about people.

jongjong•4m ago
These fraudsters who get second chances have got blackmail. Trust me, all the people we see in the media are sharks. They only help each other if they feel a threat or have something to gain.
josefritzishere•20m ago
I cannot fathom the thinking of any party investing in the new company of a convicted fraudster.
exogeny•18m ago
Pathetic. Everyone in this story is pathetic. Trump, Milton, all of them.
Invictus0•15m ago
For anyone that hasn't seen it, or just wants to reminisce, here's Hindenburg's report on Nikola, Milton's previous scheme. It is a truly hilarious read.

https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/

arbuge•3m ago
Whenever I see any news about this guy, I always think of this:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38686150

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