Louisiana Voice

Since Jan. 20, 2025, his first day of his second term, Donald Trump has issued 89 pardons, not counting the Since Jan. 20, 2025, his first day of his second term, Donald Trump has issued 89 pardons, not counting the NEARLY 1600 BLANKET PARDONS he bestowed on all those rioters from the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.

(And these were for just the first 10 months of 2025)

Of those 89, no fewer than 36 were for felons convicted of fraud or drug offenses.

The 27 fraud pardons and nine pardons for drug charges might seem a little out of kilter for a president who presents himself as be so opposed to fraud in Minnesota and drugs in Venezuela.

So, let’s take a look at those 36 pardons.

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich: convicted in 2011 of, among other things, attempting to sell a US Senate seat. (as a side note, Blagojevich was once booted off Trump’s reality TV show, Celebrity Apprentice.)

Brian Kelsey: the former Tennessee state senator had pleaded guilty to campaign finance fraud.

Devon Acher: defrauding the Wakpamni Native American tribe of tens of millions of dollars.

Trevor Milton: Former CEO of Nikola convicted of defrauding investors but pardon kept him from having to repay $660 million to victims.

Jason Galanis: along with Acher, conspiracy to defraud Wakpamni tribe of $60 million. Received commutation of sentence instead of full pardon. Both Acher and Galanis had worked with Republicans in their effort to impeach President Joe Biden.

Ozy Media, Carlos Watson: Conspiracy to commit securities fraud, ordered to make $37 million restitution.

Michele Fiore: former Las Vegas city council member convicted of defrauding a federal charity.

Scott Howard Jenkins: former Pennsylvania county sheriff convicted on four counts of honest services fraud, along with seven counts of bribery.

Todd and Julie Chrisley: Reality TV stars convicted in 2022 of bank and tax fraud.

Lawrence Duran: Convicted of $205 million in Medicare fraud in Florida, ordered to repay $87 million.

Michael Gerard Grimm; Former New York representative pleaded guilty in 2014 to felony tax evasion.

George Santos: former New York representative convicted of fraud, removed from office.

Marian I Morgan: convicted of running multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme from her Florida home.

John G. Rowland: former Connecticut governor convicted of election fraud, conspiracy.

Charles Overton Scott: convicted of securities fraud.

Changpeng zhao: Perhaps the most egregious of Trump’s pardons, Zhao was founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. He was convicted of failing to stop criminals from using the platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking, terrorism and money laundering.

Glen Casada: former Tennessee House Speaker convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud, theft, bribery and kickbacks.

Cade Cothren: Casada’s former chief of staff convicted along with his boss.

Joseph Lewis: the British national billionaire businessman pleaded guilty two years ago to conspiracy to commit securities fraud. He was pardoned last November.

David Gentile: investment manager was convicted of multiple fraud charges and was sentenced to seven years. He reported to prison last Nov. 14 but served only 12 days before Trump pardoned him.

Enrique Roberto and Imelda Rios Cueller: member of Congress from Texas, Cueller and his wife were indicted on charges that for a decade, they ran a fraudulent bribery scheme. The couple was indicted but were pardoned before they could be tried.

Alexander Sittenfeld: Cincinnati City Council member pleaded guilty campaign fraud, bribery, attempted extortion, sentenced to 16 months in prison

Robert Henry Harshbarger, Jr.: pleaded guilty in 2013 to health care fraud and distributing a misbranded drug through his wife’s company, American Inhalation Medication Specialists. His wife, also a pharmacist, was elected to Congress in 2020 as a Trump supporter.

Tim Leiweke: the ex-CEO of Oak View Group, the developer for a new LSU arena was indicted but never tried for orchestrating a conspiracy to rig the bidding process before Trump issued him a full pardon.

And then there are the nine pardons for drug offenders:

Ross William Ulbricht: the founder of the Silk Road dark web marketplace where he operated “the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace” was sentenced to life imprisonment for fraud in identifying drugs sold over the internet and for money laundering.

Jean Pinkard: convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, she is the beneficiary of Trump’s “No MAGA Left Behind” pardoning spree.

Michael Ray Harris: All this gang leader did was run a national drug trade (and get himself convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Larry Hoover: another gang leader (from Chicago) who had been serving multiple life sentences for drugs, money laundering, extortion and murder.

Garrett Gilbert Smith; Baltimore drug trafficker who was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Trump commuted to time served with no further fines, restitution, supervised release or other conditions.

Charles Lavar Tanner: convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilos or more of cocaine.

Anabel Valenxula: sentenced in 2009 to 32 years for meth trafficking.

Edward Ruben Soeiot and Joe Soteio: convicted and sentenced in the 1990s as major players in a drug conspiracy.

Juan Orlando Hernandez: The granddaddy of all presidential pardons, Hernandez is the former president of Honduras who was found guilty of conspiracy to import some 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., along with assorted firearms charges. Sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. It mattered little that he was the leader of one of the largest criminal enterprises ever subject to a conviction in U.S. courts; he had a friend named Roger Stone and Stone had a friend named Trump. So, a PARDON was a mere formality.

To see the list of all 89 persons pardoned by Trump in 2025, as compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice, go HERE.

And here’s a bit of lagniappe for you. It’s a list of all those pardoned by Trump (mostly Jan. 6 participants) who have subsequently been arrested on other charges:

• David Daniel 
• Andrew Kyle Grisby 
• Theodore Middendorf 
• Andrew Quentin Taake 
• John D. Andries 
• Joshua Lee Atwood 
• Bryan Betancur 
• Dominic Box 
• Kyle Travis Colton 
• Timothy Desjardins 
• James Tate Grant 
• Jarod Lee Hawks 
• Joshua Dillon Haynes 
• Emily Hernandez 
• Colby Dillion Herrington 
• Daryl Eugene Johnson 
• Edward Kelley 
• Kene Brian Lazo 
• Jia Liu 
• Martin Joseph Pastucci 
• Donald Nathan Pelham 
• Narayana Chandra Rheiner 
• Alan Michael St. Onge 
• Hatchet Speed 
• Taylor Taranto 
• Shane Jason Woods 
• Miles Adkins 
• Zachary Alam 
• John Banuelos 
• Brent John Holdridge 
• Matthew Huttle 
• Christopher Moynihan 

There you have it—the fraud and drug crime honor roll. A tribute to that paragon of law and order, Donald J. Trump.

So, remember, boys and girls. Crime does not pay (unless you happen to have a connection to Agent Orange). But most of all, don’t be conned into believing that Venezuela is about drugs or Minnesota is about fraud. The math just doesn’t work.