A former Department of Justice pardon attorney slammed President Donald Trump on Monday for freeing a billion-dollar Ponzi schemer from federal prison just before Thanksgiving.
The White House confirmed on Monday that Trump commuted the sentence of David Gentile, the former CEO of GPB Capital, who was convicted in May of wire and bank fraud charges, according to a report by CNN. Gentile was just 12 days into his seven-year sentence when Trump commuted it.
CNBC reported that Gentile defrauded tens of thousands of investors while at GPB Capital, costing them billions. The investigation into Gentile began in 2018, during Trump’s first term, and one of Trump’s DOJ attorneys pushed the courts to give Gentile a 15-year sentence earlier this year.
Liz Oyer, a former pardon attorney, commented on Trump’s decision to commute Gentile’s sentence in a new YouTube video.
“Once again, Trump has offered no explanation to the American people or to the victims of Gentile’s fraud,” Oyer said in the video, arguing that he tried to keep the clemency a “secret.”
“We cannot let these corrupt abuses of the pardon power fly under the radar,” she continued.
Gentile is not the first white-collar criminal the Trump administration has freed since taking office. Trump also pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of cryptocurrency trading platform Binance. Zhao was convicted on money laundering charges, and his company paid more than $4 billion in fines.
“This is another grotesque abuse of the pardon power that should outrage all Americans,” Oyer said in a post on X.
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