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Trevor Milton is raising funds for a new jet he claims will transform flying
- jgalt212 7mo 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_minute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_sucker_born_every_...
- NickC25 7mo agoI'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 7mo agoThat's was the article said. I think you understood it incorrectly.
- maxweylandt 7mo agohttps://archive.is/https://www.wsj.com/business/trevor-milton-pardon-nikola-trump-3163e19c https://archive.is/https://www.wsj.com/business/trevor-milto...
- kotaKat 7mo 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Bonanza
- nhinck3 7mo agoSounds like he's on the verge of developing a valuable product then.
- 6510 7mo agoYou are missing the advantage of having an AI to blame everything on.
- crote 7mo agoWhat 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 7mo agoThe 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".
- crote 7mo ago
- JoshGG 7mo agoSays a lot about whether you can trust the WSJ.
- schmidtleonard 7mo ago"Convicted fraudster pardons convicted fraudster therefore you can trust convicted fraudster." Wild!
- ttubrian 7mo 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 7mo agoShades of Goodfellas when Henry did his time and was welcomed back with open arms.
- huhkerrf 7mo agoThere'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.
- bloomingeek 7mo agoMy rule has always been, forgive people, but never forget what they did. After they've made restitution, help them back to their feet, but don't let them ever get to the place where they can fail the same way. And whatever you do, don't let them get into a leadership position. They've already proved they can't help themselves when the pressure in on.
- Zealotux 7mo agoFool me once, shame on you...
- jadbox 7mo agoThe favor trading corruption is blatant without shame. More of the media should be highlighting these cases.
- etempleton 7mo agoIn 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 7mo agoIsn'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?
- kjksf 7mo agoNo because you don't understand what Andreessen means by reflection / introspection. He obviously thinks you should learn from your mistakes and that you must be an avid and quick learner. But learning skills is not what introspection / dwelling is. It's spending times on thoughts like "what should I be doing with my life". "I can't believe how much of a victim of the system I am". And he specifically contrasted it against doing stuff. Writing code >>> walks in the woods. Obviously reflection is necessary to recognize mistakes of the past. What Andreessen was talking about that you should spent majority of your time acting not reflecting. Not that you should spent 0 time reflecting.
- philipwhiuk 7mo ago> introspection / dwelling It's surprising to me that you consider these equivalent. Introspection is a process of discovery, to uncover a deeper cause why you did something. Dwelling is when you can't let go. Introspection is important. Dwelling is problematic.
- triceratops 7mo ago> It's spending times on thoughts like "what should I be doing with my life". How else do you decide what to do?
- some_random 7mo agoJust 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 7mo agoIf 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.
- notlenin 7mo agoI feel like part of the secret to being that type of CEO is that whatever your business is, you can spin it into something "oh my god, much wow". Like it won't be just "vertically integrating pallet construction", it'll be "a heartwarming revolution in the construction of pallets, now with AI and blockchain". Kind of like how TFA mentions that Milton's new SyberJet will "pioneer AI flight".
- chneu 7mo agoSell me this pen
- seanhunter 7mo agoExhibit A: Adam Neuman, who somehow convinced people that office rental + shitty app that didn't work was "The first physical social network" and therefore deserved a tech company valuation. And to be clear he's not been convicted of fraud, he walked away from the cash bonfire with over a billion dollars.
- some_random 7mo agoThis could make a funny bit as well now that I think of it, advertise your new enterprise as an AI NFT Blockchain Distributed Pallet Revolution but under the hood it's just a sensible Harvard Business School rollup.
- close04 7mo 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 7mo agoThe old Buzz Lightyear: falling, with style
- notlenin 7mo agothey're going to pioneer "AI flight" :D
- enoint 7mo agoOne insight might be that airlines and aircraft manufacturers get bailed out often.
- hermannj314 7mo agoThe 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.
- dogemaster2025 7mo ago[flagged]
- Nihilartikel 7mo agoYou seem a bit... political. What's your favorite tech stack?
- dogemaster2025 7mo agoIt’s a political sub-thread. What is a tech stack? Is that what people used to do back in the day before people started building using English? Interesting!
- lovich 7mo ago[flagged]
- dogemaster2025 7mo ago[flagged]
- lovich 7mo agoThank you for copy and pasting my comments instead of linking to them clanker
- game_the0ry 7mo agoI 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 7mo agoHaving 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.
- game_the0ry 7mo agoBut you also have to build a business with the money you raise, or else you kill your reputation along the way.
- elzbardico 7mo agoAs the founder, yes. For the VCs there's not a lot of consequences by having hyped things like Theranos or WeWork.
- game_the0ry 7mo agoI guess I would make a terrible VC, bc my money and reputation would matter to me.
- ahf8Aithaex7Nai 7mo agoThe 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.
- josefritzishere 7mo agoI cannot fathom the thinking of any party investing in the new company of a convicted fraudster.
- notlenin 7mo ago> In August [2022], it was announced that Andreessen Horowitz had invested in Neumann's new residential real-estate company, Flow. source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Neumann https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Neumann
- seanhunter 7mo agoNot only did they invest, but if I'm not mistaken, at the time that was the biggest single check that Andreessen Horowitz had ever written. It's completely baffling to me.
- nradov 7mo agoAnd they invested more in 2025. https://a16z.com/announcement/flow/ https://a16z.com/announcement/flow/
- Nihilartikel 7mo agoExactly! Any knowledgeable observer would have expected him to run for elected office instead.
- exogeny 7mo agoPathetic. Everyone in this story is pathetic. Trump, Milton, all of them.
- Invictus0 7mo agoFor 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/ https://hindenburgresearch.com/nikola/
- arbuge 7mo agoWhenever I see any news about this guy, I always think of this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38686150 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38686150
- enoint 7mo agoLovely. Utterly untrustworthy except for the important case of identifying others like him.
- nerevarthelame 7mo agoOn top of the fraud convictions, Trevor Milton was credibly accused of sexual assault by his own cousin and a girl he employed. Both victims were minors at the time. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/29/two-women-file-sexual-abuse-complaints-against-nikola-founder-trevor-milton.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/29/two-women-file-sexual-abuse-...
- ryandrake 7mo ago> It was wiped away with a phone call. In March 2025, Trump called Milton to tell him he had signed an unconditional pardon. Milton had styled himself as a political victim of the Biden administration, and Trump agreed. Birds of a feather flock together.
- chneu 7mo ago[flagged]
- worksonmine 7mo ago[flagged]
- muwtyhg 7mo agoYou seem to be making an assumption on what comment the OP is referring to. Could you provide us the quote you think has "gone through many rounds of telephone"?
- worksonmine 7mo ago[flagged]
- evan_ 7mo agoPost the whole thing. > I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything.
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 7mo agoText-only, HTTPS optional: https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA1YRlL9/ https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA1YRlL9...
- JohnTHaller 7mo agoTranslation: Convicted fraud pardoned by convicted fraud is likely gonna fraud again
- mh2266 7mo agois he going to roll it down a hill to make it take off?
- tjpnz 7mo agoThe brake release is two popsicle sticks glued together and decorated with glitter.
- gok 7mo agoAn HTML5 super jet?
- cosmicgadget 7mo agoGravity powered!
- tw04 7mo agoThere’s a reason he should be sitting in prison still. It’s not because he’s an honest human or a good businessman.
- cat-turner 7mo agoPeople like to invest in people like them. Simple as that.
- pstuart 7mo agoI love how the article talked about the big claims for improved flight capabilities without a single word describing what that supposed secret sauce may be.
- jamesvzb 7mo ago[flagged]
- SophiaNg338894 7mo ago[dead]
- HardCodedBias 7mo agoWhy? How? Why would anyone give him money? Really. I'm blown away.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- panick21_ 7mo agoFucking scamer piece of shit. I watched the whole saga and to anybody with a brain it was clear he was a scammer. Anybody that even did minimal research into the industry it was clear what he was doing. He spent most of the money on adds for his stock. To make him sound credibly he agree to really shitty deals (for him) with credible companies. So he could say 'we are in business with X'. Of course GM was the biggest fish they got in that regard, of course the GM CEO at the time was on crusade to claim they were doing 'EV' so I think even they knew it was mostly scam, but it got them into the media. He should be in prison.
- sitagosan 7mo agoA few months ago he popped up in my Instagram feed. It looks like Trevor has been seeing a lot of success on that platform rebranding himself as a jilted genius who's on the comeback. Seeing his posts about how he'd been wronged by the system and comment sections full of people who are taking it at face value really highlights the shortcomings of social media to me.
- touristtam 7mo agoWho is he and what should I care?