New Judiciary Democrats Report Exposes MAGA’s Cash-for-Clemency Racket Which Gives Unrepentant Criminals a New Lease on Life and Leaves Victims in the Dust

Report Reveals Sprawling Network of Trump Insiders and Influence Brokers Have Helped Wealthy Criminals Secure Pardons from Trump to Escape Paying Nearly $1.7 Billion Owed to Victims, Taxpayers

Washington, D.C. (August 21, 2026)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, released a new Committee staff report, “Pardons, Inc.: How Trump and His Clemency-for-Cash Racket Let White-Collar Criminals and International Drug Dealers Walk Free and Dodge Billions in Restitution Owed to Their Victims,” exposing the sprawling pay-to-play clemency industry that has emerged around Donald Trump’s White House.

The report details how Trump has sidelined the traditional Department of Justice (DOJ) clemency process and replaced it with a pay-to-play system in which wealthy criminals use political contributions, Trump family business ties, and well-connected MAGA insiders to secure presidential pardons. Trump’s pardons have now erased nearly $1.7 billion in restitution, fines, and forfeitures owed to victims and taxpayers, up from Judiciary Democrats’ initial estimate of $1.3 billion last year.

“Donald Trump has taken one of the most solemn constitutional powers of the presidency and turned it into a bustling marketplace for insider political influence and unjust personal enrichment. ‘Pardons, Inc.’ has a simple business model: wealthy white-collar criminals and drug traffickers hire Trump insiders, pour money into his political operation or cultivate his family’s financial interests, and suddenly the doors of the White House swing open for a pardon, commutation, and forgiveness of all fines and financial restitution owed. Meanwhile, thousands of imprisoned Americans without elite MAGA connections who show genuine contrition, have paid restitution to their victims and are seeking mercy sit endlessly in limbo. Presidential clemency is supposed to be an instrument of justice and mercy, not another MAGA Get-Rich-Quick-Scheme where access goes to the highest bidder,” said Ranking Member Raskin.

Key findings and case studies from the report include:

• Under Trump, Clemency Is Bought—Not Earned. Trump has sidelined the traditional DOJ clemency process and replaced it with a system where political and financial access, rather than independent merit, determine who gets a pardon.
  • Trump’s Demolition of the Clemency Process: Trump fired career Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer with more than 6,000 clemency applications pending, installed Ed Martin, whose stated philosophy is “No MAGA left behind,” and created a White House “pardon czar.” Nearly 14,000 legitimate clemency applications are now pending before DOJ.
  • The Access Merchants: A lucrative industry of political fixers and Trump insiders now sell access to the President and his inner circle. A Reuters investigationidentified 290 “influencers” who advocated 624 times in 197 successful second-term clemency bids, including at least 110 known Trump allies and 11 people who themselves received Trump clemency. Intermediaries have charged as much as $2 million per engagement, lobbying firms have fielded offers of $5 million to get a case before Trump, and two MAGA insiders reportedly floated a $30 million pardon proposal.

  • Pardons, Inc. At Work: The report examines four individual case studies illustrating how the system operates. Convicted investor fraudster Trevor Milton and his wife donated more than $1.8 million to committees supporting Trump before Milton hired two attorneys with direct Trump ties and received a full pardon; tax fraudster Paul Walczak received a pardon 12 days after his mother attended a $1 million-per-plate Trump fundraiser offering face time with the President; and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao hired a longtime friend of Donald Trump, Jr. to lobby for clemency as Binance developed extensive financial ties to the Trump family’s cryptocurrency business before Trump pardoned him; and serial fraudster Eliyahu “Eli” Weinstein who is currently serving a 37-year sentence for swindling charitable investors out of $44 million—a scheme that he began orchestrating soon after his 24-year sentence for two massive Ponzi schemes was commuted during Trump’s first term to time served following a costly campaign backed by prominent political figures, including Alan Dershowitz and Mark Meadows.

     

• Pardons, Inc. Allows the Worst of the Worst to Escape Accountability. Trump has granted clemency to serious offenders based on political and personal networks, money and political ideology rather than traditional considerations such as remorse, rehabilitation, restitution and public safety.
  • Among those receiving clemency are former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving 45 years for helping traffic hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States; nursing-home magnate Joseph Schwartz, who spent nearly $1.1 million lobbying for clemency while serving a sentence for a $38 million payroll-tax fraud scheme; and Timothy Leiweke, who donated $250,000 to Trump’s inauguration before Trump wiped away a federal bid-rigging prosecution against him.

  • Trump also pardoned three participants in an international bribery case after one defendant’s daughter donated $2.5 million to MAGA Inc.; Jason Galanis, a convicted fraudster who became a witness in House Republicans’ failed Biden impeachment investigation; and Michele Fiore, who was convicted of stealing donations intended for a memorial to two murdered police officers.

     

• Trump Let His Fraudster Buddies Keep Nearly $1.7 Billion in Stolen Funds. Trump has freed dozens of criminals of any obligation to pay nearly $1.7 billion in restitution and government fines, up from Judiciary Democrats’ initial estimate of $1.3 billion last year. Any unpaid restitution would have gone directly to the convicted criminals’ victims while unpaid fines would have helped support the federal Crime Victims Fund, a major source of federal assistance for domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers and other victim assistance programs.
  • Trump commuted the sentence of private equity executive David Gentile less than two weeks into his seven-year prison term and wiped away his $15.5 million forfeiture obligation for his investment fraud scheme. Gentile had paid a Trump-connected intermediary a whopping $2.5 million to intercede with Trump on his behalf.

  • After lobbying efforts, Trump pardoned repeat fraudsters Adriana and Andres Camberos, relieving them of nearly $50 million in restitution to victims and $30 million in forfeiture; pardoned cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX and four of its executives, wiping away $130 million in federal fines; and commuted the sentence of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson, eliminating financial penalties after Watson and his company were ordered to pay $37 million in restitution and forfeit $59 million in fraudulent gains for defrauding investors.

     

 If Republicans are serious about fighting fraud, they will join Judiciary Democrats in exposing and dismantling Trump’s pardon industry rather than protecting the fraudsters who benefit from it.

Click here to read the report.