Pardons come as president and Republicans seem intent on investigating fraud in Democratic-run states
Donald Trump’s mass pardoning of those convicted in connection to the January 6 insurrection raised eyebrows last year, but more recently his pardons have appeared to have a particular focus: to grant clemency to those convicted of fraud.
Since taking office, Trump has pardoned dozens of people convicted of white-collar crimes, including several billionaires, with most of the 13 pardons he quietly issued this month granting clemency to people convicted of fraud.
Those include Wanda Vázquez Garced, the former governor of Puerto Rico who pleaded guilty last year to a campaign finance violation. The US Department of Justice said Vázquez took hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from a Venezuelan, Julio Herrera Velutini, and Mark Rossini in exchange for firing a federal official investigating a bank owned by Herrera Velutini.
Trump pardoned Herrera Velutini and Rossini, who were both convicted of wire fraud, along with Vázquez. Herrera Velutini’s daughter, Isabel Herrera, donated $2.5m to the pro-Trump political action committee Maga Inc, and another $1m in July 2025, CBS News reported. A White House official told CBS News the pardons and donations were unrelated.
