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BlueWaveNeverEnd

(14,054 posts) Thu Mar 19, 2026, 12:17 PM 2 hrs ago

Trump Vowed to Crack Down on Fraudsters, but He's Pardoned Dozens, "those who have stolen the most"

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/us/politics/trump-fraudsters-pardons.html?unlocked_article_code=1.UVA.jMgq._9cSOorCJ88Q&smid=url-share

Across both of his terms, President Trump has granted clemency to more than 70 allies, donors and others convicted in fraud cases.

Salomon Melgen was an immigrant who came to the United States and wound up committing fraud, ripping off the American taxpayers by $42 million. “Melgen devised a scheme to enrich himself by defrauding Medicare to the tune of tens of millions of dollars,” an F.B.I. official said when Mr. Melgen was sentenced to 17 years in jail during President Trump’s first term.

Given the high-profile “war on fraud” in government programs that Mr. Trump announced on Monday, pointing to scams allegedly carried out by Somali and other immigrants, Mr. Melgen might have a prominent place in the president’s rogue’s gallery of fraudsters.

But Mr. Melgen is actually prominent in another presidential lineup, the gallery of criminals convicted of fraud who have been granted clemency by Mr. Trump.

That second gallery is not small.

Across both of his terms, Mr. Trump has granted clemency to more than 70 allies, donors and others convicted in fraud cases. In his second term, Mr. Trump’s pace of pardoning those convicted of fraud has increased. In the first year of his second term, he handed out nearly three dozen pardons and commutations for people accused of fraud.

Mr. Trump is unabashed about using the government to reward friends and supporters and punish foes. Still, his handling of fraud cases stands out. Not only are there striking similarities between some of the crimes that were prosecuted and those that were pardoned, but the president also has excused some of those who have stolen the most.