In 2021, a convicted fraudster named Adriana Camberos was freed from prison when President Trump commuted her sentence.
Rather than taking advantage of that second chance, prosecutors said, Ms. Camberos returned to crime. She and her brother were convicted in 2024 in an unrelated fraud.
This week, Mr. Trump pardoned both siblings, marking the second time he had opened the prison gates for Ms. Camberos.
Their pardons were among a handful of clemency grants quietly issued by Mr. Trump on Thursday and Friday.
Among the other lucky recipients: a man whose daughter had given millions to a Trump-backed super PAC, a former governor of Puerto Rico and a former F.B.I. agent — all of whom had pleaded guilty in a political corruption case.
The pardons, most of which have not been previously reported, were supported by people with close ties to Mr. Trump’s orbit, including lawyers who had worked for him.
They continue a trend in which Mr. Trump has used the unfettered presidential clemency power to reward allies and those who have paid his associates or donated to his political operation.
The approach stands in contrast to
Justice Department guidelines that prioritize the clemency applications of people who have completed their prison sentences or demonstrated remorse and a lower likelihood of recidivism.
The pardons, several of which forgave white-collar crimes and frauds by affluent perpetrators, strike a discordant note with the Trump administration’s announcement that it was
suspending federal funding for programs intended to serve poor people in Minnesota in order to root out fraud.
