4 Florida cases on Trump clemency list as he ends presidency
Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump exit Air Force One at the Palm Beach International Airport on the way to Mar-a-Lago Club on January 20, 2020 in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump left Washington, DC on the last day of h
Two rappers, a once-prominent eye doctor, and a real estate investor convicted in a Ponzi scheme were Floridians on Donald Trump’s clemency list hours before he exited the presidency.
The list includes:
- Rapper Lil Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., was given a full pardon. The Grammy-winner was charged in Florida on Nov. 17 with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, a federal offense that carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
- Rapper Kodak Black, whose real name is Bill K. Kapri, was granted a commutation. The "Tunnel Vision" rapper is serving a three-year prison sentence for falsifying documents used to purchase weapons at a Miami gun store.
- Eye doctor Salomon Melgen, convicted in 2017 of bilking Medicare out of $73 million, was granted a commutation. The 66-year-old Melgen, formerly a prominent Democratic donor and friend of New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, was serving a 17-year prison sentence in a Miami prison.
- Fred Davis Clark Jr. had his 40-year prison sentence commuted. He was convicted in 2016 of falsely promising his company could turn dilapidated properties in Florida, Las Vegas and the Caribbean into luxury resorts that would bring investors fat returns. In reality, the operation was a Ponzi scheme that used money from new investors to pay existing ones while Clark took millions off the top.
Among the others included in Trump's over 143 pardons is his former associate Steve Bannon, Elliott Broidy, a Republican fundraiser who pleaded guilty last fall in a scheme to lobby the White House to drop an investigation into the looting of a Malaysian wealth fund, and Ken Kurson, a friend of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner who was charged last October with cyberstalking during a heated divorce.
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Trump has now pardoned more than 100 people since he lost re-election. Pardons are common in the final stretch of presidency, with recipients largely dependent on the individual whims of the nation's chief executive.
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