Former New York businessman Sholam Weiss returned home to his family after Donald Trump commuted his 835-year sentence, believed to be the longest ever imposed on a white-collar criminal.
Weiss, 66, was sentenced in 2000 in federal court in Orlando, Florida, after being convicted on charges stemming from his role in a series of complex financial frauds that resulted in the collapse of the National Heritage Life Insurance Co. In commuting Weiss’s prison term, which was previously reduced from the original 845 years, Trump noted that Weiss suffers from “chronic health conditions.”
The length of Weiss’s sentence -- Bernard Madoff received 150 years in prison by comparison -- has long been controversial. Supporters argued that Weiss was unfairly penalized because he contested the charges at trial rather than accepting a plea deal with prosecutors. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers included him in a set of clemency petitions it submitted to the White House in October, alongside a number of prisoners sentenced for nonviolent drug crimes.
But Weiss hurt his case by fleeing the U.S. while free on bail. He was on the run for a year before the authorities tracked him down in Austria.
Weiss reunited with his family in New York on Wednesday. “He’s so happy,” said Weiss’ nephew, Hershy Marton, who runs a home-care agency in Brooklyn. “He just wants to enjoy living at home, and probably commit more to learning Torah.”
Marton, 26, helped lead the charge to free his uncle, bombarding Trump with tweets about the case and cold-emailing New York state legislators, many of whom ultimately backed clemency.
Weiss also hired lobbyist Brett Tolman to make his case to Trump and won the support of former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese, former U.S. Solicitor General Seth Waxman and Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, among others, according to a White House announcement issued in the final hours of Trump’s presidency.
Bloomberg News provided this article. For more articles like this please visit bloomberg.com.
