Ponzi schemer given clemency by Trump does another Ponzi scheme
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This is the inevitable outcome of many of Trump’s “game recognize game” pardons:
A convicted Ponzi schemer whose 24-year prison term was commuted by President Donald Trump in 2021 now faces as much as 50 years behind bars for an investor fraud that took place after his clemency.
Eliyahu “Eli” Weinstein, 51, faces sentencing Friday in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, after being convicted of defrauding more than 150 investors out of $41 million. Investors believed their money was going to Covid-19 masks, baby formula and first-aid kits bound for Ukraine, but it actually went to gambling, real estate and luxury watches.
Prosecutors asked US District Judge Michael Shipp to sentence Weinstein to a half-century in prison – an unusually harsh term in a white-collar case. But Weinstein’s lawyer, Ilana Haramati, said he is innocent and doesn’t deserve the severe punishment that prosecutors are seeking.
“Fifty-year sentences are usually reserved for the most hardened criminals, like murderers or terrorists – not people who are wholly non-violent, like Mr. Weinstein,” Haramati said in an email.
The case is one example of what can go wrong when the president grants clemency to convicted defendants who go on to commit new crimes. Earlier this week, a loan shark and convicted drug trafficker who was freed from prison by Trump in 2021 was sentenced to 27 months in prison for repeatedly violating the terms of his federal release.
“When it comes to pardons, the White House takes them with the utmost seriousness and the President understands the responsibility that he has as President to issue pardons to individuals who are seeking that,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a recent briefing. “That’s why we have a very thorough review process here that moves with the Department of Justice and the White House Counsel’s office.”
Before convicting Weinstein on March 31, jurors heard from five of his co-defendants who pleaded guilty and testified as prosecution witnesses. They described how he orchestrated the fraud and used the alias “Mike Konig” to avoid detection of his past crimes.
“Weinstein, he was the wizard of the fraud, the wizard of the lies,” Assistant US Attorney Jonathan Fayer told jurors in his closing argument. “He knew all the lies, was coordinating them, was coordinating the money.”
There’s particularly little reason not to do it again when you have a very reasonable belief that Trump will give you another get-out-of-jail-free card because he loves his fellow con artists.
Incidentally, I’m currently reading Bidget Read’s Little Bosses Everywhere. I’ll have more when I finish, but the difference between how the De Vos family made its money and how this guy makes his money is marginal.