How many fraudsters have been pardoned by Trump
Executive summary
Public reporting does not produce a single, definitive tally of “fraudsters” pardoned by Donald Trump; available sources show at least dozens of clemencies that involve white‑collar or fraud‑related convictions across his two presidencies, but they stop short of a clean, agreed‑upon count [1] [2]. Political actors and news organizations have compiled overlapping examples — from serial corporate fraudsters to crypto executives and repeat offenders — revealing a pattern but not a finalized total [3] [4] [5].
1. Why the question can’t be answered with one number
There is no single public database that classifies every Trump pardon by crime type in a way that isolates “fraud” comprehensively, and reporting so far aggregates cases differently: congressional Democrats label “dozens” of white‑collar clemencies in their analysis, local outlets identify individual corporate fraud pardons, and advocacy trackers highlight specific lists — none provide a unified, corroborated tally [1] [2] [6].
2. Minimum confirmed cases and concrete examples
Reporting documents multiple named fraud‑conviction beneficiaries: Trevor Milton (a CEO pardoned who had been convicted of fraud) and Jason Galanis (a serial fraudster cited by House Democrats) appear in summaries of Trump’s clemency actions [7] [1], Adriana Camberos was pardoned twice after separate fraud convictions and related convictions were reported [4] [8] [5], and investigative outlets list at least six corporate fraud figures pardoned in the second term, a count that grew when a D.C. businessman convicted in an Ohio investor fraud case was added [2].
3. Scale and scope claimed by critics and supporters
Democratic investigators argue Trump’s pardons “cheated crime victims” of roughly $1.3 billion in restitution by wiping out debts owed by pardoned fraudsters and other defendants, framing the clemency pattern as large and consequential [1]. Supporters and statements cited in coverage show the White House justifying many pardons as corrections of unfair sentences or politicized prosecutions, a defense repeatedly invoked in Trump’s pardon announcements [9] [4].
4. Patterns that emerge from available reporting
Journalists and state trackers say Trump’s second term has included a notable focus on white‑collar and fraud cases, ranging from small‑scale resale and wire‑fraud convictions to major corporate and crypto prosecutions [4] [3] [5]. Reporting also documents corporate and even corporate‑entity pardons — such as the parent of a major crypto exchange — widening the practical meaning of “pardoned fraudster” beyond individual sentences [3] [10].
5. The political context and competing agendas
Sources with partisan aims have produced lists and headlines: California’s governor launched a site to track what he called Trump’s “pardoning convicted fraudsters” [11] [6], while House Judiciary Democrats released an analysis framing the spree as “corrupt” and quantifying restitution impacts [1]. News outlets ranging from AP and CNN to Forbes and The Guardian catalogued individual cases and batches, but their editorial frames differ — from investigatory critique to cataloguing of presidential clemency power [12] [4] [9] [11].
6. Bottom line: best available answer
No authoritative total of “fraudsters pardoned by Trump” exists in the supplied reporting; based on the cited coverage, the conservative conclusion is that Trump pardoned at least dozens of individuals tied to fraud or white‑collar crimes across his presidencies, with multiple high‑profile corporate and crypto‑related clemencies confirmed, but a precise overall count cannot be established from these sources alone [2] [1] [3].