A convicted Ponzi schemer whose sentence Trump commuted after an intense lobbying push is now being charged with defrauding investors, again

• Prosecutors say that a convicted Ponzi schemer that Trump got out of prison defrauded people again.
• Prosecutors allege that Eliyahu "Eli" Weinstein even admitted to his crime on tape.

Former President Donald Trump commuted Eliyahu "Eli" Weinstein's sentence as one of his final acts in office, a decision that enraged the prosecutor who helped put Weinstein in prison over a $230 million Ponzi scheme.

Federal prosecutors said on Wednesday that shortly after Trump helped him get released, Weinstein concocted another scheme. And now, once again, Weinstein is facing charges related to allegedly defrauding investors.

"We allege Mr. Weinstein took part in a new scheme to rip off investors by hiding his real identity," Special in Charge James E. Dennehy of the Newark FBI said in a press release. "He was aware his actions were against the terms of his release on a previous investment fraud conviction, and we allege he engaged in criminal activity anyway."

Trump's commutation of Weinstein's sentence led to his release after serving less than eight years of a 24-year sentence. The New York Times held up Trump's action as indicative of the then-president's approach to pardons and commutations that gave priority to those with money, power, or connections to Trump and his allies.

Legendary attorney Alan Dershowitz, who represented Trump during his first impeachment, helped advised the arguments that were made. A lobbyist who had known White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for years was signed on. Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, who had just switched parties to become a Republican, also supported Weinstein's case. As the Times pointed out, the advocacy allowed Weinstein to cut ahead of other federal inmates who went through the Justice Department's process that presidents do not have to follow.

"Does it help if you have money and the right connections?" Barry Wachsler, who paid legal fees associated with Mr. Weinstein's court appeals and clemency push, told The Times. "You know, I guess it does. It definitely does."

One of the prosecutors involved in convicting Weinstein, immediately registered his opposition to Trump's decision.

"I'm disgusted," Gurbir S. Grewal, who was an assistant United States attorney on Weinstein's initial case, wrote on Twitter. "It's no surprise that President Trump granted clemency to Eli Weinstein: it's one huckster commuting the sentence of another."

Prosecutors allege it did not take Weinstein very long to get back to defrauding investors.

Weinstein partnered with two other individuals who promised mostly friends and family "lucrative opportunities to invest in deals involving COVID-19 masks, scarce baby formula, and first-aid kits supposedly bound for wartime Ukraine."

Weinstein eventually admitted more than just his true identity, prosecutors allege. They claim that during an August 2022 meeting, he admitted that he was back to the very things that landed him in prison the first time around.

"I finagled, and Ponzied, and lied to people to cover us," Weinstein said on a recording of the meeting, per prosecutors.