President Trump to Grant Clemency to Sholam Weiss Today

By Yehudit Garmaise 

     Even on his way out, U.S. President Donald Trump is doing a few nice things for Jews. 

       Sholam Weiss, who is originally from Boro Park and whose family lives in Monsey, is expected to be among the 100 recipients of pardons and commutations President Trump is expected to issue today, which is his last day in office.

  On February 15, 2000, the Middle District Court of Florida sentenced Weiss, in what is believed to be the longest-ever white-collar prison sentence: 845 years in Otisville Correctional Institution for charges of racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering.

    The judge’s ruling also included repayment of $125,016,656 and a fine of $123,399,910 after the collapse of National Heritage Life Insurance Company (NHLC), where Weiss worked as a bankruptcy specialist, a trade he had learned while helping his father with his once-successful business, Windsor Plumbing, after it hit hard times in the 1989 recession. 

   “After Weiss was in prison for 16 years, after losing all the court cases, appeals, and motions, the court admitted that no one lost a dime,” said a source close to Weiss’s case. “How can anyone justify someone sitting in prison for 20 years without anyone having lost a dime?

     “Weiss will be freed because no one can justify someone being in prison when no one lost money as a result of his actions. The U.S. Attorney’s Office has confirmed in court that restitution had been paid in full.” 

     Unbeknownst to Weiss, others who worked at NHLC had been stealing for years before hiring him. After the masterminds of NHLC’s fraudulent schemes were charged with crimes, however, they copped plea bargains and walked away with five-to-seven year sentences. But, when Weiss would not plead guilty, in Orlando, he faced a trial that resulted in a sentence that he could not have served if he lived eight times.

     Mr. Weiss’s supporters argue that his shockingly long prison sentence is an example of the “trial penalty,” in which prosecutors offer many fewer years of prison time in exchange for guilty pleas. Once at trials, prosecutors pursue much longer sentences to punish and perhaps to discourage those who turn down plea deals.

    Although Weiss claimed innocence in 2000, his fear motivated him to run away to Austria,  where he was arrested and extradited back to the United States in 2002.

    The fact the he “absconded” in the face of multiple charges, a source close to Weiss said, also did not bode well for his case.

   In the end, the courts admitted that the facts have proved that just as Weiss claimed, no one lost money as a result of his actions. 

   For the past year, askanim, and activists from organizations such as the National Association of Criminal Defense lawyers, and CAN-DO Clemency Foundation have worked together to gather the support of members of the law enforcement community, 55 former Department of Justice officials and 17 bipartisan members of the House of Representatives to sign a letter that was sent to President Trump to grant clemency to Weiss.

      In fact, a source close to Weiss’s case says that none of the other prisoners seeking clemency right now can match the depth of support that Weiss’s community has provided.

     Congressman Ted Deutch (Fla-D), a Rep. Kelly Armstrong (N.D.-R) co-sponsored the Congressional letter that requested clemency for Weiss.

    Other supporters of Weiss include many New York State politicians, Ed Meese, who served as the attorney general for President Reagan, former U.S. Solicitor General Ken Starr, federal judges, appellate judges, federal prosecutors, such as former prosecutor Brett Tolman, Boro Park-born lawyer Alan M. Dershowitz, and many rabbis and rebbes in the community who all spoke up to get Weiss released from prison. 

    This Shabbos, thanks to the efforts of community activists, such as the Tzedek Association led by Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, who work tirelessly for prisoners who receive disproportionately long sentences or are subject to other miscarriages of justice, Weiss, who served as the bal koreh in prison, will be back with the k’lal in Monsey.