Pardoned Ponzi Schemer Imprisoned Again for Fraud

Eliyahu "Eli" Weinstein is back in a familiar spot: behind bars for investor fraud. The first time this happened to him, the New Jersey man served eight years before President Trump commuted his 24-year sentence in 2021. But upon release, the 51-year-old New Jersey man went back to his old tricks, and on Friday, he received a new 37-year sentence, reports Bloomberg. Weinstein was convicted of bilking more than 150 investors out of $41 million in a Ponzi scheme.

Prosecutors say Weinstein, who operated under the alias "Mike Konig" to conceal his identity, orchestrated the scheme months after his clemency from Trump. Five co-defendants testified against him, describing how he directed the fraud while hiding assets to avoid paying nearly $229 million in restitution from his previous conviction. Weinstein's investors thought their money was going into things such as COVID supplies and first-aid kits for Ukraine, but the money actually went to repay earlier investors, as well toward personal expenses such as gambling and luxury watches.

"These were brazen and sophisticated crimes that involved multiple conspirators and drew right from Weinstein's playbook of fraud," said Philip Sellinger, the US Attorney for New Jersey at the time of Weinstein's arrest in 2023, per CBS News.