President Joe Biden made history on Thursday with the largest act of clemency by granting it to almost 1,500 people.
“Today, President Biden announced that he is granting clemency to nearly 1,500 Americans – the most ever in a single day – who have shown successful rehabilitation and a strong commitment to making their communities safer,” announced the White House. “The President is commuting the sentences of close to 1,500 individuals who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and who have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.”
Biden also pardoned 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes.
“He is also the first President ever to issue categorical pardons to individuals convicted of simple use and possession of marijuana, and to former LGBTQI+ service members convicted of private conduct because of their sexual orientation,” the White House continued.
So, clemency is a broad legal term. It includes “pardons, commutation of sentence, reprieve, or remission of fines and forfeitures.”
Well, Biden’s clemency for these people has infuriated the victims. These aren’t victimless crimes. These people ruined so many lives.
Conahan is one of many judges brought to justice in the Kids-for-Cash scandal in Pennsylvania.
They received $2.1 million in kickbacks for sending juveniles to two private, for-profit detention centers:
Conahan pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges and was sentenced in 2011 to 17½ years in prison. However, he petitioned the courts for a “compassionate release” during the COVID-19 pandemic, writing that he was “in grave danger of not only contracting the virus, but of dying from the virus.”He was released to home confinement in Florida under federal supervision in June 2020.
Sandy Fonzo’s son is one of the victims of the crime. She’s mad:
“I am shocked and I am hurt,” Fonzo said in a statement. “Conahan‘s actions destroyed families, including mine, and my son‘s death is a tragic reminder of the consequences of his abuse of power. This pardon feels like an injustice for all of us who still suffer. Right now I am processing and doing the best I can to cope with the pain that this has brought back.”
Dixon, IL, comptroller Rita Crundwell pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in 2012.
She stole $53 million from the small town since 1990 “to fund a lavish lifestyle, including a world champion horse breeding business.”
The court sentenced her to 19 years. Crundwell had to serve 85% of her sentence, which would have been October 20, 2029.
However, she left jail on August 4, 2021, and placed on home confinement.
“Now, today I anticipate she’s dancing in the streets of Dixon with her commutation, because she just also conned the President of the United States,” said former U.S. Marshal Jason Wojdylo. “This official act undid decades of work.”Wojdylo spent four years tracking down Crundwell’s assets, and took CBS News Chicago on a tour of her Florida vacation home before her items—including the custom-made furniture at the Florida property and Crundwell’s 405 horses—were sold at auction, bringing in $10.5 million.”Just the overwhelming nature of her crime made it near impossible for her to account for everything that she had had bought with the stolen funds,” Wojdylo said.
From Dixon City Manager Danny Langlossa:
“The City of Dixon is shocked and outraged with the announcement that President Biden has given Rita Crundwell clemency for the largest municipal embezzlement in the history of our country. This is a complete travesty of justice and a slap in the face for our entire community.”While today’s news in unimaginable, the City of Dixon is in an incredible place today. We will continue to focus on the future and work to capitalize on the momentum we have created.”
Former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora landed in prison due to his involvement “in a massive pay-to-play scheme” in Ohio.
The FBI and IRS investigated and almost “60 politicians, government officials and contractors” were convicted of granting contracts “in exchange for money, trips, gifts and favors.” Wow:
Prosecutors said Dimora made about $450,000 off bribes, including trips to Las Vegas, prostitutes and an infamous outdoor stone-fired pizza oven installed in the backyard of his Independence home.Dimora was initially sentenced in 2012 to 28 years in what was, at the time, one of the Ohio’s most expansive corruption cases in history.That sentence in 2022 was cut to 25 years in prison after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in a different case that clarified the definition of what constitutes a bribe under federal law.
Dimora has been on home confinement since 2023. It should have ended in 2030.
In 2014, a court convicted Former CEO of Sentinel Management Group Eric Bloom, a company based in Northbrook, IL, of wire fraud and one count of investment adviser fraud for defrauding “hundreds of customers of more than $665 million.” Awful:
Prosecutors alleged that as head of Sentinel, Bloom secretly began exposing his well-heeled customers to an increasingly risky mix of leveraged deals in 2003, leading to the company’s collapse four years later.According to the charges, Bloom and Charles Mosley, Sentinel’s head trader, pledged hundreds of millions of dollars worth of client funds as collateral for a multimillion-dollar bank loan. The money from the loan was then used to buy high-risk securities for a “house” trading portfolio that benefited Sentinel’s officers, including Mosley, Bloom and Bloom’s father, Philip, who founded the company in the 1970s but was not charged with wrongdoing.Prosecutors said the younger Bloom and Mosley never told clients how much risk they were being exposed to and used false account statements to lull them into pouring more money into Sentinel. As the heavily leveraged trading strategy went awry amid the global mortgage crisis, emails and phone calls showed a jittery Bloom growing increasingly desperate, they said.
Bloom received a 14-year prison sentence. The Chicago Tribune reported that Bloom “has been serving out his sentence at a residential reentry facility in Florida.”
His sentence should have ended in May 2026.
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