It turns out that President Donald Trump’s pardons not only let convicted felons out of prison, but may have even wiped away the financial debt one of the recipients of a pardon owed to taxpayers as restitution for his crimes.
Disgraced former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik pleaded guilty to eight felony tax and false statement charges in federal court back in 2009 for taking nearly half a million dollars in the form of a $250,000 payment from an Israeli billionaire and a $236,000 payment from a New York real estate mogul and failing to report either payment to the IRS.
Basically, Kerik got busted for tax fraud, admitted to his crimes and served a prison sentence for three years. He was also ordered to pay over $187,000 in taxes owed to the IRS.
But it looks like Kerik might get away with not paying up because of the pardon he just received from Trump on Tuesday.
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According to The New York Daily News:
Recall Bernie Kerik’s crimes: He hid $250,000 worth of renovations to a Bronx apartment gifted to him by a city-business-seeking company with alleged mob ties. He lied to federal officials during the vetting process for the top homeland security job under George W. Bush.
After serving three years, Kerik’s long since left prison; Trump’s pardon gives him not one additional day of freedom. But if the pardon is unconditional, that wipes away $103,322.05 of the $187,931 restitution owed federal taxpayers.”
As we all know, Trump has repeatedly refused to release his own tax returns, and his former personal attorney Michael Cohen has testified that those documents likely prove that Trump committed tax fraud himself.
If Kerik no longer has to pay back the money he owes to the IRS because of the pardon, Trump could try to pardon himself to escape having to pay for his own tax fraud, therefore robbing taxpayers in plain sight. Of course, Trump has already been doing that for years by claiming massive losses that allow him to pay little to no federal income taxes.
But with just the stroke of a pen, he can try to keep himself out of prison and not pay back any money he may owe to taxpayers. Pardoning Kerik and former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich just set the stage for such an abuse of power.
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