Latest news with #TrumpCommutation
The Independent
4 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Trump commutes notorious gangster's sentence... thanks to Kanye West
President Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of notorious former gang leader Larry Hoover after being lobbied for years by Kanye West. Hoover, now 74, was the leader of the Chicago -based Gangster Disciples and was convicted in 1997 for running the criminal enterprise. He was serving a 200-year sentence in a Colorado supermax prison, but after the president's intervention, he will be transferred to a state prison in Illinois to see out the rest of the sentence. Prosecutors described Hoover as 'one of the most notorious criminals in Illinois history.' In court filings, they said that he was responsible for directing 'violence and drug trafficking in Chicago from at least 1970 until 1995.' Hoover's attorneys welcomed the move from Trump and said that Hoover has demonstrated 'considerable growth and complete rehabilitation' behind bars. 'Despite the Court's unwillingness to do the right thing, Mr. Hoover has been able to keep his voice alive through the incredible work of many advocates and supporters,' they said in a statement to CBS News. 'Thankfully, Mr. Hoover's pleas were heard by President Trump who took action to deliver justice for Mr. Hoover.' Hoover's legal team was told Monday that the commutation was going ahead, according to The New York Times. 'This is an older gentleman who has a lot of health concerns and who has aged out of criminality,' Justin Moore, one of his lawyers, said. Trump was lobbied to commute the gangster's sentence by West, which intensified after Alice Marie Johnson, the president's 'pardon czar,' was appointed to advise the White House, according to Moore. 'WORDS CAN'T EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE FOR OUR DEVOTED ENDURING PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP FOR FREEING LARRY HOOVER,' West said in a post on X, even though Hoover will remain locked up. West met with Trump at the White House in 2018 where he said it was 'very important' to him to free Hoover. ' I have to go and get him free because he was doing positive inside of Chicago, just like how I'm moving back to Chicago, and it's not just about, you know, getting on stage and being an entertainer and having a monolithic voice that's forced to be a specific party,' West said, according to a transcript of the meeting. In 2022, Hoover claimed he is 'no longer the Larry Hoover people sometimes talk about, or he who is written about in the papers, or the crime figure described by the government.' He claimed he was 'anecdotally' aware that 'some misguided people' had used him as a symbol, adding that he wished 'this were not so.' 'I am no longer a member, leader, or even an elder statesman of the Gangster Disciples,' Hoover wrote. 'I want nothing to do with it now and forever.' Federal prosecutors claimed that Hoover has continued to orchestrate gang activity in some capacity while imprisoned, and have stated that they believe he would attempt to reclaim his position as the gang's leader if released. In July 2020, Chicago's top federal prosecutor, US Attorney John Lausch, told the judge that it would be a 'miscarriage of justice to reduce [Hoover's] sentence in any way, shape or form'.
Fox News
4 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Trump commutes sentence of major political donor in latest round of clemency
President Donald Trump on Wednesday commuted the 12-year sentence of a major political donor who was serving time for a number of offenses, including obstructing an investigation into Trump's 2017 inaugural committee, the White House confirmed with Fox News Digital. Imaad Zuberi, 54, was a major Democrat supporter before he backed Trump following his 2016 election victory, The New York Times reported. Before pivoting to Trump on election night, he served as a bundler for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, including stints on both of their campaign finance committees. Zuberi donated more than $1.1 million to committees associated with Trump and the Republican Party months after the 2016 election, the Times reported. The donations secured him invitations to a pair of black-tie dinners celebrating Trump's inauguration. In 2020, he pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal investigation into the source of a $900,000 donation he made through his company to Trump's inaugural committee in late December 2016, the report states. Zuberi also pleaded guilty to falsifying records filed with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act to conceal his lobbying work on behalf of Sri Lanka. Zuberi allegedly directed millions of dollars from the Sri Lankan contract to himself and his wife for personal purposes, shortchanging lobbyists, public relations and law firms, and certain subcontractors who were part of the lobbying effort. His commutation was one of several on Wednesday, as well as a few pardons. Larry Hoover, who is serving time in a federal supermax prison, also had his sentence commuted. Hoover, the co-founder of the Chicago gang Gangster Disciples, was originally imprisoned for a 1973 murder and later convicted in 1998 for operating a criminal enterprise. Trump also pardoned former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, who was convicted in two federal criminal cases, including one that contributed to his resignation.
