President Trump’s “get out of jail free” cards for convicted crooks are actually costing crime victims a fortune.
A scathing new investigation by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee will detail how the sweeping wave of Trump’s pardons has robbed federal crime victims of $1.7 billion in potential restitution and fines. The committee was expected to release the report on Friday.
Because Trump wiped clean the slate of court-ordered restitution to victims, the convicted criminals are relieved of having to pay back stolen funds or to fix damage of their crimes. The 25-page investigation by the committee argued Trump’s pardons have triggered a historic and “massive redistribution of wealth in favor of convicted criminals.”
The committee investigation argues Trump has “demolished” a rigorous, and largely apolitical, pardon system. They said Trump also allowed pardons to flow to “high-bidding”, deep-pocketed convicts, who lobbied through – or helped enrich - allies of the President and attorneys.
The investigation by the Judiciary Committee and its ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) detailed dozens of pardons which zeroed out the unpaid fines and restitution of Trump allies and supporters, including the $3 million that was owed by January 6th US Capitol rioters.
The following charts, which the committee will release Friday, list the potential price tag of each pardon, for the victims of the respective crimes.
The report emphasized the cost of Trump’s pardon of former Nikola CEO Trevor Milton, who was found guilty of defrauding investors. The report said “Mr. Milton had been sentenced to four years in prison, and a federal judge was scheduled to rule on prosecutors’ recommendation that he be ordered to pay nearly $700 million in restitution to his victims.”
The committee’s report underscored Milton’s support of - and relationship with – Trump, ahead of his clemency. The report said, “Mr. Milton and his wife donated over $1.8 million to committees supporting the President’s reelection, including $920,000 to the Trump 47 Committee in October 2024 and $750,000 in September 2024 to the MAHA Alliance super PAC affiliated with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.”
The Congressional investigation found victims of admitted fraudster Jason Galanis were stiffed of more than $80 million in restitution. Galanis pleaded guilty in 2020 of defrauding shareholders and clients of an investment advisory firm, as part of a scheme to manipulate the market on behalf of Gerova Financial Group. The committee report said, “President Trump pardoned Mr. Galanis and wiped out any obligation to pay further fines or restitution. Days later, Mr. Galanis petitioned for the return of the $2 million he had already advanced to his victims. A federal court quickly denied this claim, outrageous even by the depraved standards of Trump pardonees.”
More on Galanis’s case: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/jason-galanis-sentenced-manhattan-federal-court-multiple-securities-fraud-schemes
The report also spotlighted the absolving of $37 million in restitution payments to victims of the former Ozy Media outlet and its former leader Carlos Watson. Watson was pardoned as he was being shuttled to serve a federal prison term for fraud, despite a report that an Ozy official “impersonated a YouTube executive on a phone call with Goldman Sachs to convince the bank to make a $40 million investment in Ozy Media.”
The committee said, “The defrauded investors will never be repaid.”
Trump’s disruption of the traditional Presidential pardon system, includes the Administration’s controversial decision to fire then-U.S. Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer in 2025.
In a May 2025 essay, Oyer noted the deliberate and notorious politicization of the Pardon Attorney’s office by Team Trump, eradicating a tradition of nonpartisan reviews and requirements to secure pardons.
Oyer emphasized Trump’s appointment of Trump ally Ed Martin to lead the office. She said Martin is an “ideological extremist who has none of the requisite qualifications. In fact, he is so extreme and unqualified that Senate Republicans tanked his nomination for the position of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin’s appointment is stunning because the Pardon Attorney has always been a nonpolitical appointee who undergoes rigorous vetting to be qualified as a member of the career Senior Executive Service. Martin has not gone through that process.”
A Justice Department spokesperson told Scott MacFarlane Reports, “Presidents of both parties have exercised their constitutional authority to grant pardons and commutations without consulting the Department of Justice. Under the Trump Administration, the Office of the Pardon Attorney continues to serve a key role in assisting the President. The Department is committed to timely and carefully reviewing all applications and to make recommendations to the President that are consistent, unbiased, and uphold the rule of law. There has been no departure from this long-standing process.”
Here: https://substack.com/@lizoyer/p-163702582
The Judiciary Committee Democrats said the pardons of dozens of convicted fraudsters undermine the Trump Administration’s new emphasis on “cracking down on fraud.”
The report from the Democrats said, “In recent months, often to justify immigration crackdowns or cuts to health care and food assistance programs, House Republicans have, hilariously, made ‘fighting fraud’ one of their central talking points… This is true. But convicted fraudster Donald Trump and the MAGA pardon industrial complex are all about committing fraud, protecting fraudulent schemes, and pardoning convicted fraudsters.”
The Judiciary Committee Democrats, who are seeking to take control of the panel after the midterm elections, would be empowered in 2027 to issue subpoenas, calling hearings and depose witnesses into Trump’s pardons, if they win the majority in the midterm elections.
The panel’s report argues pardon recipients have helped secure their clemency through “flattering” Trump or by making exorbitant payments to people with the President’s ear.
As part of their argument, they highlighted the clemency of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted of conspiring to distribute hundreds of tons of drugs.
Hernandez allegedly befriended powerful people “in President Trump’s orbit,” according to the Judiciary Committee Democrats’ review.
Great work on Raskin's part. But, will anyone even notice. The GOP has allowed this grift for so long that folks are immune - another day - another outrage. I keep hoping this is like the fall of the Roman Empire and that something more just and honorable will take it's place.
They're steeling from the American taxpayers every which way from Sunday.