新泽西州的一名庞氏骗局建筑师于2021年被时任总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)减刑24年，他于周三再次被捕，罪名是通过做出涉及运往乌克兰的人道主义物资的虚假承诺来欺诈投资者。
新泽西州的联邦检察官称，埃利亚胡·温斯坦(Eliyahu Weinstein)和其他四名男子被控合谋诈骗150名个人投资者逾3500万美元，以及合谋妨碍司法公正。
美国司法部长菲利普·塞林格(Philip Sellinger)周三在纽瓦克举行的新闻发布会上说，“这是本办公室第三次指控温斯坦大规模欺诈投资者。”。
检察官说，这一次，温斯坦据称使用了假名，并虚假承诺获得涉及稀缺医疗用品、婴儿配方奶粉和急救包的交易，这些物品本应运往战时的乌克兰。
“这些是厚颜无耻和复杂的犯罪，涉及多个同谋，可能来自温斯坦的欺诈剧本，”塞林格说。
温斯坦因欺诈投资者两次在新泽西州联邦法院被定罪。他的第一个案件涉及房地产庞氏骗局，第二个案件源于温斯坦在审前释放期间犯下的其他欺诈行为。检察官说，这些罪行给投资者带来了总计2.3亿美元的损失。他被判入狱24年。
2021年1月19日，在温斯坦服刑不到8年后，特朗普将温斯坦的刑期改为服刑时间。
刑事起诉书称，温斯坦出狱后不久，就开始策划一项新计划，通过一家名为Optimus Investments Inc .的公司向投资者募集资金。
起诉书称，温斯坦用假名“迈克·柯尼希”(Mike Konig)经营擎天柱，隐瞒真实姓名和身份，因为正如温斯坦在一次秘密录音谈话中承认的那样，如果投资者知道温斯坦的参与，他们不会给他们“一分钱”。
据美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)今年早些时候报道，温斯坦加入了越来越多的人的名单，这些人从前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)那里获得了赦免，此后又面临额外的法律审查。
当时，美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)审查了特朗普政府期间被赦免或减刑的238人，发现至少有10人重新接受调查、被控犯罪或已经被定罪。
法律专家称这一反复出现的主题是前所未有的，但鉴于这位前总统在赦免过程中的非正统做法，这并非完全出乎意料。
代表寻求赦免的客户的律师玛格丽特·洛夫(Margaret Love)说，“特朗普总统绕过了正式而有序的司法部程序，转而支持非正式而相当混乱的白宫运作，在某些情况下依赖于他的个人观点，在其他情况下依赖于他认识的人或以各种方式接近他的人的建议。”前美国赦免律师是司法部任命的，帮助向总统提供赦免建议。
“所以，有人可能已经预测到了，”洛夫当时说，“一些通过了那次宽松的挑战的人会再次陷入困境。”
Man who had jail sentence commuted by Trump arrested again
A New Jersey Ponzi scheme architect, whose 24-year prison sentence was commuted by then-President Donald Trump in 2021, has been arrested again Wednesday on charges he defrauded investors by making false promises involving humanitarian supplies destined for Ukraine.
Eliyahu Weinstein and four other men were charged with conspiring to defraud 150 individual investors of more than $35 million and with conspiracy to obstruct justice, according to federal prosecutors in New Jersey.
"This is now the third time this office has charged Weinstein with a large-scale scheme to rip off investors," U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said during a news conference in Newark on Wednesday.
This time, Weinstein allegedly used a fake name and falsely promised access to deals involving scarce medical supplies, baby formula, and first-aid kits supposedly destined for wartime Ukraine, prosecutors said.
"These were brazen and sophisticated crimes that involved multiple coconspirators that can came from Weinstein's playbook of fraud," Sellinger said.
Weinstein was convicted twice in New Jersey federal court for defrauding investors. His first case involved a real estate Ponzi scheme, and his second case stemmed from additional fraud Weinstein committed while on pretrial release. Those crimes resulted in combined losses to investors of $230 million, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to serve 24 years in prison.
On Jan. 19, 2021, after Weinstein had served less than eight years, Trump commuted Weinstein's term to time served.
Soon after his release from prison, Weinstein allegedly began orchestrating a new scheme to solicit money from investors through a company called Optimus Investments Inc., according to the criminal complaint.
Weinstein ran Optimus while using a fake name, "Mike Konig," keeping his true name and identity hidden because, as Weinstein acknowledged in a secretly recorded conversation, investors wouldn't give them "a penny" if they learned of Weinstein's involvement, the complaint said.
Weinstein joins a growing list of people who secured clemency from former President Donald Trump and have since faced additional legal scrutiny, as ABC News reported earlier this year.
At the time, ABC News reviewed the 238 people who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted during the Trump administration and found at least ten who were back under investigation, charged with a crime, or already convicted.
Legal experts called this recurring theme unprecedented -- but not entirely unexpected, given the former president's unorthodox approach to the pardon process.
"President Trump bypassed the formal and orderly Justice Department process in favor of an informal and fairly chaotic White House operation, relying in some cases on his personal views and in others on recommendations from people he knew or who gained access to him in various ways," said Margaret Love, a lawyer who represents clients seeking pardons and a former U.S. Pardon Attorney, a Justice Department appointee who helps advise presidents on grants of clemency.
"So, it might have been predicted," Love said at the time, "that some who made it through that lax gauntlet were going to get in trouble again."
