BREAKING: Trump Pardons Fraudster Who Stole $25 MILLION
The presidential pardon was designed to correct injustice. To free the wrongly convicted. To show mercy when the law was too harsh.
Donald Trump has turned it into something else entirely.
On July 4th weekend, as the country celebrated its 250th birthday, Trump quietly pardoned 11 people. Among them: a business partner of one of the most corrupt lobbyists in American history who later threw a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. Nine people who illegally disabled vehicle emissions systems. And a ranch owner whose pardon the White House justified in part by noting he lets NATO troops train on his land for free.
This is what justice looks like in Trump’s second term.
Who He Pardoned This Time
Trump pardoned Adam Kidan, a former business partner of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. In 2006, Kidan pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges related to the purchase of a fleet of gambling boats and was sentenced to nearly six years in prison. Since his release, campaign finance records show Kidan has donated millions of dollars to Republican candidates and committees and hosted a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
He donated millions to Republicans. He hosted an event at Trump’s club. He got a pardon.
Trump also pardoned nine people convicted of violating the federal Clean Air Act. They were found to have either tampered with emissions control equipment in trucks or sold aftermarket parts that disabled those controls. Federal law prohibits removing or modifying emissions control devices in vehicles.
The pardons came days after Trump signed a memo telling the EPA that Americans should be able to fix their vehicles as they see fit, and referenced a diesel mechanic he had already pardoned for disabling emissions monitoring systems on hundreds of commercial trucks.
He announced the policy. Then he pardoned the people who had already broken the law the policy was designed to gut. In that order.
The Scale of What Is Happening
These July 4th pardons are not a one-time event. They are the latest installment in the most aggressive and most corrupt use of the pardon power in American history.
Trump has granted executive clemency to more than 1,700 individuals as of June 2026. In many cases, he also removed the requirement that recipients pay restitution and fines, costing their victims an estimated $1.3 billion. At least three individuals convicted in white-collar fraud cases who received clemency also had their pending SEC civil enforcement actions dropped as a result.
A June 2026 Reuters review of clemency decisions found that 96% of Trump’s clemency grants failed to meet longstanding Department of Justice guidelines for such requests. A large number of pardons were granted to people who used Trump allies to lobby for their cause. There was evidence of donations to Trump or payments to Trump allies to help achieve the clemency.
96%. That is not a rounding error. That is a policy.
The Pattern Is Impossible to Ignore
On January 20, 2025, Trump issued mass pardons to more than 1,500 people prosecuted for the January 6 Capitol attack. In November 2025, he signed a proclamation granting pardons to 77 people associated with the fake electors plot to overturn the 2020 election results.
The people who attacked the Capitol on his behalf: pardoned. The people who helped him try to steal an election: pardoned. The lobbyist’s former business partner who donated millions and threw him a party at Mar-a-Lago: pardoned.
Trump’s clemency grants have benefited allies, donors and loyalists, including Republican politicians and white-collar defendants with impressive campaign donation records.
The Justice Department used to run the pardon process. Career attorneys reviewed applications, checked records, and made recommendations based on evidence of rehabilitation and the merits of each case. Trump’s team bypassed all of that.
They Even Appointed a “Pardon Czar”
Trump appointed Alice Marie Johnson as his “Pardon Czar” to manage the volume of clemency requests flooding into the White House. Shortly after the 2026 Super Bowl, Johnson announced pardons for five former professional football athletes convicted of charges ranging from drug dealing to fraud to counterfeiting.
There is now a dedicated staffer whose entire job is processing the line of people trying to buy their way to a presidential pardon. That is the administration’s solution to the volume of requests. Not fewer pardons. A czar to handle them faster.
What It Costs the Victims
Lost in the political spectacle is what these pardons actually mean for the people on the other end.
By removing restitution requirements alongside the pardons, Trump’s clemency grants have cost the victims of pardoned offenders an estimated $1.3 billion. Those victims were defrauded, scammed and harmed by the people Trump is now setting free. They are not getting their money back. They are not getting an apology. They are getting a Truth Social post that says “I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!”
$1.3 billion. Owed to real people. Wiped away with a presidential signature.
The Bottom Line
Donald Trump has issued more than 1,700 acts of clemency in 18 months. 96% of them failed to meet the Justice Department’s own standards. Millions of dollars in donations and payments to Trump allies are tied directly to pardon outcomes. Victims are owed $1.3 billion they will never see.
On the eve of the country’s 250th birthday, Trump pardoned a man who donated millions to Republicans and threw a party at Mar-a-Lago. He called it justice.
“I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!” he posted on Truth Social.
The pardon power belongs to the American people. Trump is using it as a vending machine for his donors.