Pardons, Commutations and Dropped Prosecutions Catch-All

Rent-a-Center Unit Escapes CFPB Suit in Latest Pullback​



“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped its case against a Rent-a-Center Inc. unit the agency said tricked people into taking out high-cost loans, the latest in a string of cases the Trump administration has voluntarily closed.

The CFPB’s notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice, filed Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Utah, comes after the agency and Acima Holdings LLC had fully briefed a motion to dismiss.

Because the CFPB chose to dismiss the case with prejudice, it can’t revive its claims against Acima.

… The dismissal of the Acima case is the latest in a series of enforcement actions brought under former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra that the agency has dropped.

The CFPB on March 4 dismissed its case against JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co. over allegedly rushing out the Zelle peer-to-peer payments system without putting adequate fraud protections in place.

The CFPB also dropped cases in recent weeks against Capital One Financial Corp., TransUnion, a unit of Rocket Cos., and a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Co., as well as suits against an installment lender and a student loan servicer.


Earlier in February, it filed a joint motion for dismissal with fintech lending platform SoLo Funds Inc.

The CFPB sued Acima in July claiming the company trapped people in high-cost loans on products they leased and then made it difficult to return items, which trapped them in the loans. ..”
 

The CFPB drops its lawsuit against Capital One, marking a major reversal​



“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday dropped five major legal cases it had underway — including a big lawsuit against Capital One — marking a major reversal for an agency that had pursued aggressive action against financial institutions accused of wrongdoing during the Biden administration.

Just last month, the CFPB had accused Capital One of failing to pay more than $2 billion in interest to customers by misleading them into thinking they would be getting higher rates. Capital One denied the charges.

The bureau also dropped its cases against Rocket Homes, Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance, and Heights Finance Holding Company. …”
 

Trump administration to drop case against plant polluting Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’​

Biden-era suit sought to curb emissions of the carcinogen chloroprene at Denka plant formerly owned by DuPont


“… Legal filings made public on Friday morning reveal that Trump’s Department of Justice agreed to dismiss a long-running lawsuit against the operators of a synthetic rubber plant in Reserve, Louisiana, which is allegedly largely responsiblefor some of the highest cancer risk rates in the US for the surrounding majority-Black neighborhoods.

The litigation was filed under the Biden administration in February 2023 in a bid to substantially curb the plant’s emissions of a pollutant named chloroprene, a likely human carcinogen. It had targeted both the current operator, the Japanese firm Denka, and its previous owner, the American chemical giant DuPont, and formed a central piece of the former administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) efforts to address environmental justice issues in disadvantaged communities. A trial had been due to start in April 2025 following lengthy delays. …”
 

Treasury Department Announces Suspension of Enforcement of Corporate Transparency Act Against U.S. Citizens and Domestic Reporting Companies​



[only small, closely held businesses would have been required to report — this was about to be required by a Biden rule promulgated under an anti-money laundering law supported and signed into law by Trump in 2019]
 

Why Elon Musk and Ben Shapiro want Trump to pardon George Floyd’s murderer​

The video depicting Floyd’s murder hasn’t changed in five years. But the Republican Party has.


[his has not happened and Trump claimed yesterday he had not heard of support for this person by Musk and others]
 

Federal judge ‘disqualifies herself’ after being ordered to release Jan. 6 rioter convicted on unrelated weapons charges​



“… While it was not immediately clear if the judge resigned in protest, it would be the result of the Justice Department’s new position that President Donald Trump’s sweeping grant of pardons for those convicted of attacking the Capitol extends to a variety of crimes unrelated to Jan. 6.

“Good cause appearing, the assigned District Judge disqualifies herself from all proceedings in the present action,” U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston wrote in a self-signed order filed Wednesday. “The Clerk of the Court SHALL reassign this action to the docket.”

Chief U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley stepped in later that day and signed the document granting the release of 46-year-old Benjamin Martin.

Martin, who has multiple previous convictions for domestic violence, was found guilty in November 2024 of possessing an illegal weapons cache that included an AR‑style rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition. His conviction came after a one-day trial before Thurston, who subsequently ordered Martin to serve three years and two months in federal prison.

Martin in June 2024 was convicted for his role in the Capitol riot, where he confronted cops at a set of doors to the U.S. Capitol building and got sprayed by mace. …”
 

Federal judge ‘disqualifies herself’ after being ordered to release Jan. 6 rioter convicted on unrelated weapons charges​



“… While it was not immediately clear if the judge resigned in protest, it would be the result of the Justice Department’s new position that President Donald Trump’s sweeping grant of pardons for those convicted of attacking the Capitol extends to a variety of crimes unrelated to Jan. 6.

“Good cause appearing, the assigned District Judge disqualifies herself from all proceedings in the present action,” U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston wrote in a self-signed order filed Wednesday. “The Clerk of the Court SHALL reassign this action to the docket.”

Chief U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley stepped in later that day and signed the document granting the release of 46-year-old Benjamin Martin.

Martin, who has multiple previous convictions for domestic violence, was found guilty in November 2024 of possessing an illegal weapons cache that included an AR‑style rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition. His conviction came after a one-day trial before Thurston, who subsequently ordered Martin to serve three years and two months in federal prison.

Martin in June 2024 was convicted for his role in the Capitol riot, where he confronted cops at a set of doors to the U.S. Capitol building and got sprayed by mace. …”

Justice Department broadens Jan. 6 pardons to cover gun, drug-related charges​



“… Federal prosecutors had accused Daniel Ball of Florida of throwing an "explosive device that detonated upon at least 25 officers" during the Capitol riot, and alleged that he "forcefully" shoved police trying to protect the building. He was arrested in May 2023. According to charging documents, Ball had a criminal record before his arrest for Jan. 6, including for "Domestic Violence Battery by Strangulation," "Resisting Law Enforcement with Violence," and "Battery on Law Enforcement Officer."

Ball pleaded not guilty to the Jan. 6 charges, and his case was dismissed when Trump took office.

But when federal agents originally arrested Ball on the riot charges, prosecutors allegedthey also found a gun and ammunition in his possession, which would be illegal given his criminal history. In August 2024, a grand jury in Florida indicted Ball for "Possession of a Firearm or Ammunition by a Convicted Felon." He pleaded not guilty to the gun case.

After Ball was released from detention on his Jan. 6 charges, the Justice Department indicated it planned to pursue the gun case and had him rearrested.

Then, this week, the federal prosecutors appeared to reverse their position and filed a brief motion indicating that they would like to dismiss that case, as well. …”
 

Justice Department broadens Jan. 6 pardons to cover gun, drug-related charges​



“… Federal prosecutors had accused Daniel Ball of Florida of throwing an "explosive device that detonated upon at least 25 officers" during the Capitol riot, and alleged that he "forcefully" shoved police trying to protect the building. He was arrested in May 2023. According to charging documents, Ball had a criminal record before his arrest for Jan. 6, including for "Domestic Violence Battery by Strangulation," "Resisting Law Enforcement with Violence," and "Battery on Law Enforcement Officer."

Ball pleaded not guilty to the Jan. 6 charges, and his case was dismissed when Trump took office.

But when federal agents originally arrested Ball on the riot charges, prosecutors allegedthey also found a gun and ammunition in his possession, which would be illegal given his criminal history. In August 2024, a grand jury in Florida indicted Ball for "Possession of a Firearm or Ammunition by a Convicted Felon." He pleaded not guilty to the gun case.

After Ball was released from detention on his Jan. 6 charges, the Justice Department indicated it planned to pursue the gun case and had him rearrested.

Then, this week, the federal prosecutors appeared to reverse their position and filed a brief motion indicating that they would like to dismiss that case, as well. …”
“…
Costianes pleaded not guilty to the Jan. 6 charges, and his case was still pending when Trump took office and ordered the dismissal of all ongoing Capitol riot cases. But that was not Costianes' only legal problem. When FBI agents first arrested Costianes and searched his residence on Feb. 12, 2021, they found four guns, along with evidence that Costianes used and sold cocaine and testosterone.

Costianes pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of a firearm or ammunition by an unlawful user of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to a year in prison, which he began serving earlier this month.

This week, the Department of Justice said in a court filing that it had concluded that Trump's pardon order extended to Costianes' drug and gun case, because it was sufficiently related to his Jan. 6 charges.

"He should be immediately released from custody in connection with this case because the President has pardoned him of the offenses in the indictment," the government's lawyers wrote. …”
 
Trump refuses to enforce TikTok ban:

 

Trump administration disbands task force targeting Russian oligarchs​



“The U.S. Justice Department under President Donald Trump is disbanding an effort started after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine to enforce sanctions and target oligarchs close to the Kremlin.

A memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, issued on Wednesday during a wave of orders on her first day in office but not previously reported, said the effort, known as Task Force KleptoCapture, will end as part of a shift in focus and funding to combating drug cartels and international gangs.

… The task force brought indictments against aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska and TV tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev for alleged sanctions busting, and seized yachts belonging to sanctioned oligarchs Suleiman Kerimov and Viktor Vekselberg.

…Cases investigated by the task force are likely to continue, but the work will no longer be centralized at Justice Department headquarters.

"Are we going to suddenly see a surge of sanctioned oligarch wealth flood into the United States? I don’t think so," said Andrew Adams, the first leader of the task force who is now at law firm Steptoe. "What you will see is a sharp decline in the pace of charges that target facilitators that are specific to Russia." …”
 

Department of Justice will review Colorado prosecution of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters​



“… In October the 69 year old was sentenced to 6 months in jail followed by 8-and-half years in prison for giving supporters of President Donald Trump unauthorized access to the Mesa County election system in 2021 in an unsuccessful search for voter fraud. They were allowed to access confidential data about the 2020 election.


Acting U.S. Assistant Attorney General Yaakov M. Roth submitted a filing in federal court in Colorado this week supporting a request from Peters, who's asking a federal court to free her from jail while she appeals her state conviction for the security breach. Roth wrote that "reasonable concerns" have been raised about Peters' prosecution and that it was among others nationally that the government was reviewing for "abuses of the criminal justice process."

The Department of Justice says it will evaluate whether the case was "oriented toward inflicting political pain than toward pursuing actual justice."

Peters has become a celebrity in the world of those who embrace Trump's lies that he lost the 2020 election due to fraud. Her supporters have been pushing the new Republican administration to pressure Colorado's Democratic governor, Jared Polis, to pardon her. …”
 
As one who was very hard on Biden for his pardons, I’ll say very clearly what Trump is going is immensely, immeasurably worse, and what Biden did does not justify or excuse it in any way whatsoever.
This is why I was never hard on Biden for his pardons. You can't lose perspective. It's too easy to end up in both-sides land, or to give aid and comfort to the both-siders.
 
This is why I was never hard on Biden for his pardons. You can't lose perspective. It's too easy to end up in both-sides land, or to give aid and comfort to the both-siders.
I don’t get your point. I still think what Biden did was a terrible abuse of the pardon power. That doesn’t in any way minimize the fact that Trump’s abuse of it is much, much worse. That’s not both-siding. It’s recognizing that abuses of the pardon can come in varying degrees.
 


[TRIGGER WARNING — ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL ABUSE OF YOUNG CHILDREN]
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The lawsuit against Southwest Key included allegations of abuse at an El Paso facility. The administration said it will no longer use the company’s services.

“… The complaint, filed last year during the Biden administration, alleged a litany of offenses between 2015 and 2023 as Southwest Key Programs, which operates migrant shelters in Texas, Arizona and California, amassed nearly $3 billion in contracts from the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Out of continuing concerns relating to these placements, HHS has decided to stop placement of unaccompanied alien children in Southwest Key facilities, and to review its grants with the organization. In view of HHS’ action, the Department of Justice has dismissed its lawsuit against Southwest Key,” the HHS said in a statement.

… According to allegations in the 2024 lawsuit, Southwest Key employees, including supervisors, raped, inappropriately touched or solicited sex and nude images of children beginning in 2015 and possibly earlier.

Among the accusations: One employee “repeatedly sexually abused” three girls ages 5, 8 and 11 at the Casa Franklin shelter in El Paso, with the 8-year-old telling investigators the worker “entered their bedrooms in the middle of the night to touch their ‘private area.’ ”

The lawsuit also alleged that another employee, at a shelter in Mesa, Arizona, took a 15-year-old boy to a hotel and paid him to perform sexual acts for several days in 2020.

Children were warned not to report the alleged abuse and threatened with violence against themselves or their families if they did, according to the lawsuit. Victims testified that in some instances, other workers knew about the abuse but failed to report or concealed it, the complaint said.

“DOJ’s lawsuit revealed horrific sexual abuse and inhumane treatment of children detained in Southwest Key shelters,” said Leecia Welch, an attorney who represents unaccompanied children in a separate case. “It’s shocking to me that the government now turns a blind eye to their own contractor’s actions. I hope the impacted children will have other legal recourse and support in healing from their abuse.”

At least two employees have been indicted on criminal charges related to the allegations since 2020.

The civil lawsuit had sought a jury trial and monetary damages for the victims. …”
 

Trump Family Has Held Deal Talks With Binance Following Crypto Exchange’s Guilty Plea​

Discussions for stake in Binance’s U.S. arm come as founder Changpeng Zhao has pushed for the administration to pardon him for his own 2023 guilty plea​


GIFT LINK 🎁 —> https://www.wsj.com/finance/currenc...fa?st=rAaJHc&reflink=mobilewebshare_permalink


Suspicious Monkey GIF by MOODMAN
“Representatives of President Trump’s family have held talks to take a financial stake in the U.S. arm of crypto exchange Binance, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that would put Trump in business with the firm that pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money-launderingrequirements.

At the same time, Binance’s billionaire founder, Changpeng Zhao—who served four months in prison after pleading guilty to a related charge—has been pushing for the Trump administration to grant him a pardon, people familiar with the matter said. Zhao, widely known as CZ, remains Binance’s largest shareholder.

The talks began after Binance reached out to allies of Trump last year offering to strike a business deal with the family as part of a plan to return the exiled company to the U.S.

It is unclear what form the Trump family stake would take if the deal comes together or whether it would be contingent on a pardon. The possibilities include the Trumps taking the stake or the deal going through World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture backed by the Trumps that launched in September, the people said. …”
 

Trump Pardons Ex-Tennessee State Senator Imprisoned for Campaign Fraud​

Brian Kelsey, a Republican, pleaded guilty to illegally funneling money to his failed campaign for Congress in 2016. He later tried unsuccessfully to withdraw his plea.


“…
Inmate records show that the former lawmaker, Brian Kelsey, a Republican, was released from a minimum-security satellite camp at FCI Ashland in Kentucky on Tuesday, the same day, his lawyer said, that he received a clemency letter from the president. The lawyer, Joy Longnecker, provided a copy of the letter to The New York Times on Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors charged Mr. Kelsey in 2021 with five criminal counts that stemmed from his failed 2016 congressional bid, to which, they said, he had illegally funneled money. He pleaded guilty in 2022 in an arrangement with prosecutors, but he later tried to withdraw from it — a motion that was denied.

Federal prosecutors accused Mr. Kelsey of trying to hide the movement of $91,000 to support his congressional bid, $66,000 of which they said came from his State Senate campaign committee. They also said that he had illegally coordinated with an outside group to make independent political expenditures in support of his campaign.

… Mr. Kelsey, 47, repeatedly blamed his legal predicament on what he said had been the weaponization of the Justice Department during the Biden administration, echoing a favorite line of Mr. Trump during his political comeback.

“God used Donald Trump to save me from the weaponized Biden DOJ,” Mr. Kelsey wrote Tuesday on X, announcing that he had received a pardon.

He continued: “May God bless America, despite the prosecutorial sins it committed against me, President Trump, and others the past four years."

Mr. Kelsey said in an interview on Wednesday that three Republican members of Tennessee’s congressional delegation — Representatives Mark Green, Chuck Fleischmann and Andy Ogles — all wrote letters in support of his petition for a pardon that he submitted to the Trump administration in January. He said that his clemency request likely resonated with Mr. Trump, whom he called “victim No. 1” of political persecution. …”
 

Trump Pardons Ex-Tennessee State Senator Imprisoned for Campaign Fraud​

Brian Kelsey, a Republican, pleaded guilty to illegally funneling money to his failed campaign for Congress in 2016. He later tried unsuccessfully to withdraw his plea.


“…
Inmate records show that the former lawmaker, Brian Kelsey, a Republican, was released from a minimum-security satellite camp at FCI Ashland in Kentucky on Tuesday, the same day, his lawyer said, that he received a clemency letter from the president. The lawyer, Joy Longnecker, provided a copy of the letter to The New York Times on Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors charged Mr. Kelsey in 2021 with five criminal counts that stemmed from his failed 2016 congressional bid, to which, they said, he had illegally funneled money. He pleaded guilty in 2022 in an arrangement with prosecutors, but he later tried to withdraw from it — a motion that was denied.

Federal prosecutors accused Mr. Kelsey of trying to hide the movement of $91,000 to support his congressional bid, $66,000 of which they said came from his State Senate campaign committee. They also said that he had illegally coordinated with an outside group to make independent political expenditures in support of his campaign.

… Mr. Kelsey, 47, repeatedly blamed his legal predicament on what he said had been the weaponization of the Justice Department during the Biden administration, echoing a favorite line of Mr. Trump during his political comeback.

“God used Donald Trump to save me from the weaponized Biden DOJ,” Mr. Kelsey wrote Tuesday on X, announcing that he had received a pardon.

He continued: “May God bless America, despite the prosecutorial sins it committed against me, President Trump, and others the past four years."

Mr. Kelsey said in an interview on Wednesday that three Republican members of Tennessee’s congressional delegation — Representatives Mark Green, Chuck Fleischmann and Andy Ogles — all wrote letters in support of his petition for a pardon that he submitted to the Trump administration in January. He said that his clemency request likely resonated with Mr. Trump, whom he called “victim No. 1” of political persecution. …”
“… Saurav Ghosh, the center’s director of federal campaign finance reform, said in a statement on Wednesday that the pardon “demonstrates an open hostility and contempt for accountability and the rule of law.”

“Kelsey’s actions, which included coordinating with special-interest-funded outside groups, using straw donors, and funneling soft money to bolster his federal campaign, violated laws designed to combat corruption and maintain transparency in our elections,” said Mr. Ghosh, a former enforcement lawyer for the Federal Election Commission.

“His pardon sends a message that there will be no consequences for such brazen misconduct.” …”
 
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