The White House announced the grants in one large batch early Wednesday morning.
Others to get reprieves include former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was convicted in March 2013 and sentenced to 28 years in prison for accepting bribes and kickbacks in exchange for municipal contracts, as well as bankrupt former Uber Technologies Inc. executive Anthony Levandowski, who in August was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading out in a criminal case alleging he stole self-driving car trade secrets from Google, his former employer.
Bannon and others are accused of siphoning at least $1.35 million from a $25 million online fundraising effort to build a wall on the southern U.S. border.
Broidy, a former deputy finance chair of the Republican National Committee and onetime Trump fundraiser, admitted to running a covert campaign to lobby Trump and other U.S. officials on behalf of an individual tied to the scandal over Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB.
Trump also commuted the sentence of Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, who escaped corruption charges alongside his longtime friend U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., but was convicted of a massive health care fraud scheme and was sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2018.
Another pardon was bestowed on former Nixon Peabody LLP attorney David Tamman, who in 2013 was sentenced to seven years in prison following his conviction for helping to cover up a client’s $22 million Ponzi scheme by stymieing a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the scam.
A full pardon was also granted to Paul Erickson, a conservative operative once linked to a Russian agent who sought to create a back channel between the Kremlin and the U.S. government. Erickson in July was sentenced to seven years in prison in an unrelated case over fraudulent business schemes.
Trump commuted the prison sentence of prominent gambler William “Billy” Walters, who was dealt a five-year term for insider trading.
Another commutation went to Sholam Weiss, who was ultimately sentenced to 835 years in prison following his 1999 conviction on numerous money laundering, racketeering and other charges arising from his participation in a scheme to defraud National Heritage Life Insurance Co. for more than $125 million.
Others granted clemency by Trump include rappers Lil Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., and Bill K. Kapri, better known by his stage name Kodak Black, who both pled guilty to federal weapons charges.
Among the less-prominent individuals to receive commutations are Jawad A. Musa, a 56-year-old man serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense, according to the White House, and Ferrell Damon Scott, who has served almost nine years of a life sentence for possession with intent to distribute marijuana. Trump also commuted the sentences of several other nonviolent drug offenders.
In recent months, Trump has granted clemency to dozens of people, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, close ally Roger Stone and Charles Kushner, the father of his senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Trump pardoned his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who admitted twice to lying to FBI agents about his 2016 contacts with Russia and had been trying to rescind his plea. The president also granted clemency to former Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP attorney Alex van der Zwaan, who admitted to lying to federal investigators during former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference.
Other recipients of pardons during Trump’s term include former Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, former Republican U.S. Reps. Duncan Hunter of California and Christopher Collins of New York, and U.S. soldiers accused of war crimes.
–Editing by Breda Lund.
