A San Diego businesswoman who was granted clemency by Donald Trump in 2021 and later convicted on new fraud charges received a pardon from the president on Thursday, according to a White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The pardon involves Adriana Camberos, 55, convicted by jurors in 2024 of making tens of millions of dollars by selling wholesale groceries after lying to manufacturers about where the products would be sold, according to the Justice Department. Camberos was released from Bureau of Prisons custody on Thursday, according to an agency website.
Her brother, Andres, who was convicted with her at trial in 2024, also received a Trump pardon, the White House official said.
Separately, Terren Peizer, who was convicted in 2024 of insider trading and sentenced last year to 42 months in prison, also received a pardon, according to the White House official.
In all, Trump granted clemency on Thursday to 21 people, White House pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson said in a social media post. Trump has said he’s using his unchecked clemency powers to correct abuses in the criminal-justice system against those prosecuted for political reasons, particularly under former President Joe Biden. But Trump’s critics say he’s undermining the work of Justice Department prosecutors by giving pardons and commutations to undeserving recipients who gain access to him.
The White House official said the Camberos family was unfairly targeted and subject to political prosecution by Biden’s Justice Department after Trump commuted Adriana Camberos’s sentence in 2021 for another conviction. In the new case, prosecutors under Biden investigated a business practice that brought down the price of groceries, the official said.
Besides Adriana Camberos, other people granted clemency by Trump have committed new crimes. They include Eliyahu “Eli” Weinstein, a convicted Ponzi schemer whose 24-year prison term was commuted by Trump in 2021. In November, he was sentenced to 37 years behind bars for stealing $44 million from investors after he was released.
With assistance from Zeke Faux.
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