Woman gets pardoned by Trump, immediately commits new crime, and what happens next is exactly what you’d expect

President Donald Trump issued a new round of pardons this week, and one case stands out. He pardoned a convicted fraudster for the second time, even though she was serving a sentence for committing another crime after her first release. The story involves Adriana Camberos, who already got a major break from the president in 2021. 

According to The New York Times, she was originally serving a 26-month prison sentence that started in December 2019 for helping sell millions of fake bottles of 5-Hour Energy. She got her sentence shortened in the final days of Trump’s first term after hiring lawyers close to the president’s political team. One of those lawyers, Stefan C. Passantino, had worked as a deputy White House counsel in the first Trump administration.

You’d think getting that kind of second chance would inspire her to stay out of trouble. But prosecutors say Ms. Camberos and her brother, Andres, started a new fraud scheme right after her release. The siblings were charged in 2023 with running a complicated scam. They bought consumer goods at deep discounts by claiming they would sell them in Mexico. Instead, they sold the goods in the United States at higher prices and then committed bank and mail fraud to hide what they were doing.

Trump’s clemency power keeps benefiting those with the right connections

They were convicted in 2024, and Ms. Camberos was sentenced this April to more than a year in prison. She got extra months added for violating her probation from the earlier conviction. She was already serving that time when President Trump decided to pardon both her and her brother this week.

This is the second time the president has freed Ms. Camberos from prison. While a White House official didn’t comment on whether the pardon would cancel the millions of dollars the siblings owed in restitution, pardons typically erase those financial penalties. The decision comes as the president continues making controversial policy moves on multiple fronts.

This decision fits a larger pattern. These pardons were supported by people with close ties to the president, including lawyers who have worked directly for him. The president continues to use his clemency power to reward allies and those who have donated heavily to his political campaigns or paid his associates. This approach contrasts with Justice Department guidelines, which focus on people who have shown remorse and are unlikely to commit crimes again.

The pardons also included people involved in a political corruption case tied to former Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez. She was accused of accepting bribes in 2020. The recipients included Ms. Vázquez, former FBI agent Mark Rossini, and Venezuelan-Italian banker Julio Herrera Velutini. All three had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor campaign finance charges in August. 

The timing raises questions. While Mr. Herrera faced felony bribery charges in late 2024, his daughter, Isabela Herrera, donated $2.5 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting President Trump. In May, Mr. Herrera’s lawyer, Christopher M. Kise, who served on the president’s legal defense team, negotiated an unusually lenient deal for his client. 

Career prosecutors wanted a harsher sentence. Then in July, Ms. Herrera donated another $1 million to the super PAC. Similar patterns have emerged in other areas, including his deals with pharmaceutical companies that haven’t gone as planned. Mr. Kise said in a statement that Mr. Herrera “is profoundly grateful” to President Trump for the pardon.