New York drug dealer whose prison sentence Trump commuted arrested on assault charges

New York drug dealer whose prison sentence Trump commuted arrested on assault charges


Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks from a bulletproof glass housing during a campaign rally, at the North Carolina Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame in Asheboro, North Carolina, U.S. August 21, 2024. 

Jonathan Drake | Reuters

A convicted New York drug dealer and predatory lender who walked free from a 10-year federal prison sentence after it was commuted in 2021 by then-President Donald Trump has been arrested on assault charges, court records show.

Jonathan Braun, was accused in court filings in Nassau County, Long Island, of assaulting his 75-year-old father-in-law on Tuesday, as he was trying to protect his daughter from Braun. Separately, Braun was also accused of assaulting that woman, his wife, last month and again last week, The New York Times reported.

Court records show Braun pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Wednesday to three counts of assault and was released on those charges without bail.

He was also accused in Nassau County Supreme Court of petit larceny, which The Times reported is related to allegations he failed to pay $160 in bridge tolls while driving a Lamborghini and Ferrari, both of which lack license plates.

Braun was fined $20 million in February by a Manhattan federal court Judge Jed Rakoff in a civil case where the Federal Trade Commission had sued Braun for predatory lending practices.

“The evidence … shows that Mr. Braun not only personally participated in this illegal conduct, but did so gleefully, with little remorse,” Rakoff wrote in a ruling, which cited emails Braun had sent about the loans.

CNBC has requested comment from Braun’s lawyer, Marc Fernich.

Read more CNBC politics coverage

Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the now-Republican presidential nominee Trump, in a statement about Braun’s arrest, said, “President Trump wants criminals to spend time behind bars unlike Kamala Harris who wants to end cash bail.”

Vice President Harris is the Democratic presidential nominee.

Braun had served more than five years of his prison sentence for conspiracy to import marijuana and commit money laundering when Trump granted him clemency on Jan. 20, 2021, hours before leaving the White House.

He remains on supervised release for his criminal conviction, which means he potentially could be sent back to federal prison if a judge finds he violated the conditions of his release.

The Times reported last fall that Trump’s commutation thwarted an ongoing effort by prosecutors to negotiate a cooperation deal with Braun that would have freed him from prison in exchange for his offering information about other predatory lenders for a criminal investigation.

The Times has also reported that Braun’s family used connections it had to the family of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was a senior White House aide at the time, to set in motion the clemency he received from the then-president.



Source

South Korea exports fall as tariffs hit U.S., China shipments
World

South Korea exports fall as tariffs hit U.S., China shipments

Vehicles produced by South Korean automaker Kia Motors are lined up ready to be shipped at the company’s shipping yard at the Port of Pyeongtaek on April 03, 2025 in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images South Korea’s exports fell in May for the first time in four months, as shipments to the United States […]

Read More
Can art save the earth? Artists share how their work strives to do just that
World

Can art save the earth? Artists share how their work strives to do just that

Artist Lauren Bon, shown at the Los Angeles River. Bon and her non-profit art and research hub, Metabolic Studio, spent more than a decade on a project called “Bending the River.” The initiative draws water from the L.A. River in downtown L.A., cleans it and uses it to irrigate Los Angeles State Historic Park. Allen […]

Read More
Paris Saint-Germain routs Inter Milan to win the Champions League for the first time
World

Paris Saint-Germain routs Inter Milan to win the Champions League for the first time

Paris St Germain’s Ousmane Dembele. Dylan Martinez | Reuters Paris Saint-Germain, Champions League winner. At long last the club that was transformed by Qatari billions and bought and sold a succession of the world’s greatest players in an extravagant bid to get to the top has its hands on the big one. European club soccer’s […]

Read More