“There’s never been a better time to be a white-collar crook.”
–Axios, 3/31/25
It pays to go Full MAGA: In just the last week, Donald Trump has pardoned, commuted the sentences, or ended prosecution of over a half dozen white collar criminals convicted of fraud and money laundering, many of whom donated millions of dollars to Trump’s campaigns. The message to American fraudsters, crooks, and convicts is clear: pledge allegiance to Donald Trump, and receive your get out of jail free card.
March 28: Trump pardoned Nikola founder Trevor Milton – after Milton donated nearly $2 million to his campaign. On March 28, the White House confirmed that Donald Trump had pardoned Trevor Milton, the founder of electric vehicle start-up Nikola who was sentenced to four years prison in 2024 for fraud. Milton’s pardon could also wipe out hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution that prosecutors were seeking for defrauded investors. In their first known political contributions Milton and his wife donated more than $1.8 million to a Trump re-election campaign fund less than a month before the November election. When asked why he pardoned Milton, Trump suggested that Milton was prosecuted because he supported the president. “They say the the thing that he did wrong was he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president,” Trump said. Trump went on to say that Milton “did nothing wrong” and that the Southern District of New York’s prosecutors were “a vicious group of people.” During his securities fraud case, Milton was defended by two lawyers with deep connections to Trump: Marc Mukasey, who has represented the Trump Organization; and Brad Bondi, the brother of Attorney General Pam Bondi.
March 28: Trump ordered the firing of a federal prosecutor who was pursuing a case against Trump donor and fast food executive Andrew Wiederhorn. According to reporting in the Los Angeles Times, a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles was fired March 28 at the behest of the White House, after lawyers for Andrew Wiederhorn, a fast-food executive he was prosecuting, pushed officials in Washington to drop all charges against him. Adam Schleifer was terminated Friday morning, receiving an email informing him that the dismissal was “on behalf of President Donald J. Trump.” Wiederhorn, former chief executive of the company that owns fast-food chains Fatburger and Johnny Rockets, was indicted last May on charges that he hid taxable income from the federal government by dispersing “shareholder loans” from the company to himself and his family and used the funds for personal benefits, including payments for private jet travel, vacations, a Rolls-Royce Phantom, jewelry and a piano. Wiederhorn is an ardent Trump supporter who donated approximately $40,000 to Trump political action committees and the Republican National Committee during the 2024 campaign.
March 28: Trump commuted the sentence of Ozy Media executive Carlos Watson. Donald Trump issued a commutation to former talkshow host and media executive Carlos Watson while Watson was traveling to California to begin serving a nearly 10-year sentence for a federal fraud conviction. Watson immediately published a statement praising Trump and insulting the Trump-appointed federal judge who sentenced him, Eric Komitee, as “conflicted and unethical.” Watson and his company Ozy Media itself were charged and convicted at a trial in July of crimes including wire fraud conspiracy. Watson and Ozy were also ordered to pay $96m in restitution and forfeiture. Trump’s commutation also eliminated the financial penalties Judge Komitee imposed on Watson and extended clemency to Ozy, too, wiping out the company’s punishments as well.
March 27: Trump pardoned four crypto founders convicted of money laundering. On March 27, without public announcement, Donald Trump granted pardons to four founders of the BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange. The co-founders – Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, Samuel Reed and Gregory Dwyer – previously pleaded guilty in 2022 to one count each of violating the Bank Secrecy Act for flouting money laundering rules and failing to police the exchange. BitMEX was fined $100 million in January for violating the Bank Secrecy Act by willfully failing to establish, implement, and maintain an adequate anti-money laundering and know-your-customer program, a penalty also wiped away by Trump’s pardon.
- As Trump was pardoning the BitMEX team, his sons were preparing to launch the family’s third crypto venture in the last year. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. announced on March 31 that they are expanding the family’s involvement in the crypto industry by investing in a new Bitcoin mining venture. The Trump sons are joining forces with the Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 to create a firm called American Bitcoin. Eric Trump is listed as a co-founder of the new mining venture and will serve as its chief strategy officer. American Bitcoin is the third major crypto venture that the Trump family has started over the past year. These business ventures represent some of the most overt conflicts of interest in the history of the American presidency as Trump has relaxed enforcement of the crypto industry, announced the creation of a government stockpile of digital currencies, and pardoned major figures in the industry for fraud and money laundering convictions.
March 25: Trump pardoned former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer after Archer went “full MAGA” Donald Trump granted a full and unconditional pardon to former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer, wiping away his conviction in a scheme to defraud investors and a Native American tribal entity of tens of millions of dollars, after Archer appealed directly to the president for a pardon. Archer expressed gratitude and loyalty to Trump after receiving the pardon. “I’m full MAGA now,” he said. “They’re more my people.” Archer has expressed interest in serving in Trump’s administration or political operation and intends to produce a book and documentary about his experiences, as well as a cryptocurrency-adjacent business project.
- Trump commuted the sentence of another Hunter Biden associate who cooperated with Republican investigations of the Bidens. On March 28 Trump commuted the sentence of another ex-Hunter Biden business associate, Jason Galanis, for defrauding an American Indian tribe. Galanis cooperated briefly with House Republican investigators who were looking into his dealings with Hunter Biden. He pleaded guilty to a $60 million scheme to sell bogus tribal bonds and was sentenced to 189 months in prison in September 2020. He was immediately granted release from federal prison in Alabama upon receipt of Trump’s commutation.