Recent Pardons: The Second Term (2025–Present)
Every case below is a documented pardon or commutation with a reported financial or political connection — sourced to named news investigations, congressional staff reports, or DOJ's own clemency records. Nothing here claims the President personally accepted payment for a specific pardon; that has not been established.
These cases are a subset of the President's full second-term clemency record, selected because independent reporting or congressional investigators flagged a documented financial, political, or business connection around them. The DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney's complete list covers every grant, including many with no reported connection of this kind.
| Recipient | Offense | Sentence | Type | Date | Restitution / Forfeiture | Reported Connection | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Walczak | Tax crimes (payroll tax withholding fraud) | 18 months | Pardon | April 2025 | $4.4 million (eliminated) | Mother Elizabeth Fago is a major Trump fundraiser; pardon followed a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser reportedly costing $1 million/seat by about 12 days. | CBS/60 Minutes investigation |
| Trevor Milton | Securities and wire fraud (Nikola) | 4 years | Pardon | March 2025 | Not specified in source reporting | Milton and his wife contributed over $1.8 million to pro-Trump committees, including ~$920,000 to the Trump 47 PAC; retained attorneys with direct Trump connections. |
Reuters
CBS/60 Minutes investigation |
| Changpeng Zhao ("CZ") | Anti-money-laundering violations (Binance) | 4 months | Pardon | October 2025 | Not specified in source reporting | Clemency effort involved lawyer/lobbyist Ches McDowell, described as a friend of Donald Trump Jr.; Binance has a financial relationship with World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture associated with the Trump and Witkoff families. | CBS/60 Minutes investigation |
| Joseph Schwartz | Payroll tax fraud (~$38-39 million; nursing homes) | 3 years (served ~3 months) | Pardon | 2025 | Family of a nursing-home resident held a ~$19 million wrongful-death judgment against Schwartz, uncollected | Burkman and Wohl's lobbying firm disclosed receiving $960,000 from Schwartz months before the pardon. | CBS/60 Minutes investigation |
| David Gentile | Securities and wire fraud | 7 years (commuted after less than 2 weeks served) | Commutation | 2025 | $15.5 million forfeiture obligation (eliminated) | Paid a Trump-connected intermediary $2.5 million, per House Judiciary Democratic staff investigation. | House Judiciary Democrats — "Pardons, Inc." report |
| Andres and Adriana Camberos | Fraud | Not specified in source reporting | Pardon | 2025 | ~$50 million restitution and ~$30 million forfeiture (relieved), ~$80 million total | House Judiciary Democratic staff investigation lists this pardon following lobbying efforts. | House Judiciary Democrats — "Pardons, Inc." report |
| BitMEX (and four executives) | Anti-money-laundering / Bank Secrecy Act violations | Not specified in source reporting | Pardon | 2025 | ~$130 million in federal fines (eliminated) | Listed by House Judiciary Democratic staff among clemency actions under scrutiny for financial impact. | House Judiciary Democrats — "Pardons, Inc." report |
| Timothy Leiweke | Federal bid-rigging prosecution | Not specified in source reporting | Clemency / prosecution ended | 2025 | Not specified in source reporting | Donated $250,000 to Trump's inauguration prior to the federal prosecution being dropped, per House Judiciary Democratic staff investigation. | House Judiciary Democrats — "Pardons, Inc." report |
| Julio Herrera Velutini, Mark Rossini, Wanda Vázquez Garced | Political bribery case involving foreign-national campaign contributions | Not specified in source reporting | Pardon | 2025 | Not specified in source reporting | One defendant's daughter subsequently donated $2.5 million to MAGA Inc., per House Judiciary Democratic staff investigation. |
DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney — Clemency Grants 2025-Present
House Judiciary Democrats — "Pardons, Inc." report |
| Juan Orlando Hernández | Conspiracy to import cocaine; firearms offenses | 45 years | Pardon | December 2025 | Not specified in source reporting | Former president of Honduras; publicly claimed to have been framed by the Biden administration after receiving clemency. |
DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney — Clemency Grants 2025-Present
CBS/60 Minutes investigation |
| Michele Fiore | Wire fraud (donations intended for a police-memorial fund) | Not specified in source reporting | Pardon | 2025 | Not specified in source reporting | Former Nevada politician; cited by congressional investigators as a politically connected recipient. | CBS/60 Minutes investigation |
| Scott Jenkins | Bribery, honest-services fraud, related crimes | Not specified in source reporting | Pardon | May 2025 | Not specified in source reporting | Former Culpeper County, Virginia sheriff. | DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney — Clemency Grants 2025-Present |
A note on sourcing and language
We deliberately avoid the headline "Trump is selling pardons" — that claim goes beyond what has been documented. What the sources above do establish: people are paying intermediaries who claim influence over clemency decisions; people with financial and political relationships to the President have received pardons; some pardons followed large donations or fundraiser attendance by days or weeks; and DOJ's traditional review process has been bypassed in a large share of second-term cases. Where a figure is a House Judiciary Democratic staff estimate rather than an official government accounting, that's noted explicitly.
Primary sources: DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney — Clemency Grants 2025–Present; CBS News/60 Minutes, “Trump pardon lobbyists” (Sept. 13, 2026); House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff, “Pardons, Inc.”; Reuters reporting on clemency advocates.
