WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump issued 13 pardons and eight commutations Thursday, including one for a woman convicted of fraud in two separate federal schemes — the first under a sentence Trump himself had commuted during his first term — and another for a former Puerto Rico governor whose federal case involves a Venezuelan banker whose daughter donated $3.5 million to Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC. A 14th pardon was announced Friday.
The clemency wave extends a pattern in Trump’s second term of using pardon power to relieve individuals connected to his political orbit, while the administration has simultaneously moved to dismantle formal oversight of the process, including firing the Justice Department’s pardon attorney.
The repeat offender
Adriana Camberos had been convicted in the first scheme of diverting 5-Hour Energy drink bottles acquired for resale in Mexico and instead keeping them in the United States. Prosecutors said she and co-conspirators attached counterfeit labels and filled the bottles with a phony liquid before selling them. Trump commuted her sentence just before his first term ended in January 2021.
She was back in federal court by 2024, when she and her brother Andres were convicted in a separate case. Prosecutors said the siblings lied to manufacturers to obtain wholesale groceries at steep discounts after pledging the goods were destined for sale in Mexico or to prisoners or rehabilitation facilities, then sold the products at higher prices to U.S. distributors.
Both Camberoses received pardons in Thursday’s clemency announcement.
The Puerto Rico cases and the donor connection
Former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez, who had pleaded guilty last August to a campaign finance violation, was among those pardoned Thursday. Federal prosecutors had been seeking one year in prison; her sentencing had been set for later this month.
Vázquez’s attorneys had accused prosecutors of violating a plea deal that saw previous charges including bribery and fraud dropped, noting that Vázquez had agreed to plead guilty to accepting a promise of a campaign contribution that was never received, according to the Associated Press.
The case’s co-defendants included Julio Herrera Velutini, described as a Venezuelan banker, and former FBI agent Mark Rossini — both also pardoned Thursday. Herrera Velutini’s daughter, Isabela Herrera, donated $2.5 million to Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC in 2024 and gave the group an additional $1 million last summer, the AP reported.
Friday’s pardon
The additional pardon announced Friday went to Terren Peizer, a resident of Puerto Rico and California who headed Miami-based health care company Ontrak. Peizer had been convicted and sentenced to 42 months in prison and fined $5.25 million for an insider trading scheme to avoid losses exceeding $12.5 million, according to the Justice Department.
Other pardons in the wave
Others receiving clemency in recent days include former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and former Republican Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, whose political careers ended in corruption scandals and federal prison terms.
Former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who resigned from Congress after a tax fraud conviction, was also pardoned, as were reality TV personalities Todd and Julie Chrisley, who had been convicted of cheating banks and evading taxes.
Trump also pardoned Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar in a bribery and conspiracy case. The AP reported that Trump later expressed regret and frustration after Cuellar announced he was seeking reelection without switching parties to become a Republican.