Con man whose sentence was commuted by Trump pays tribute to Trump by doing more cons
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A New Jersey man who had his prison sentence commuted by then-President Donald Trump was charged on Wednesday in a new, sophisticated fraud scheme that included falsely promising deals to send supplies to Ukraine.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey charged Eliyahu Weinstein and four others in a plan that allegedly cost investors millions of dollars. In addition to Weinstein, 48, of Lakewood, the office charged Aryeh “Ari” Bromberg, 49, and Joel Wittels, 57, also of Lakewood; Shlomo Erez, 55, a citizen and resident of Israel; and Alaa Hattab, 34, of Ottawa, Canada. They were each charged with one count of wire fraud conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Weinstein had been serving a lengthy prison sentence for being convicted in two cases — a Ponzi scheme and real estate fraud — that led to more than $230 million in investor losses when Trump commuted his sentence in January 2021. His release was part of a wave of clemency actions by Trump that included commuting the sentence of Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor and major donor to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, and pardoning George Gilmore, New Jersey’s powerful Ocean County Republican chair.
Weinstein’s shortened sentence also had the support of U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.), who did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
That this guy was also connected to corrupt Jersey pols probably went without saying.