- Details
- By Levi Rickert
President Donald Trump granted a pardon on Tuesday to Devon Archer, a felon convicted for his involvement in a scheme that defrauded over $60 million in tribal bonds from the business arm of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
A former business associate of Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, Archer was convicted in 2018 for his role in fraudulently issuing tribal bonds.
Then in 2018, District Judge Ronnie Abrams overturned Archer’s jury conviction, stating that there was insufficient evidence to prove he was aware of or profited from the fraud, effectively declaring his innocence.
However, two years later, an appeals court reinstated Archer’s conviction, and in 2022, he was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay nearly $60 million in fines and restitution. His sentence was later overturned on a technicality, with a resentencing scheduled for later this year.
He was sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Archer appealed the conviction, ultimately taking his case to the Supreme Court, which declined to review it in 2024.
As part of the scheme, Archer collaborated with businessman Jason Galanis to defraud the Wakpamni Lake Community Corporation. Prosecutors alleged that instead of reinvesting the bond proceeds as intended, Archer and his co-conspirators misused the funds for personal expenses, including purchasing luxury jewelry.
"Many people have asked me to do this," Trump said before signing the pardon. "I think he was treated very unfairly. And I looked at the record, studied the records, and he was. He was a victim of a crime, as far as I'm concerned. So we're going to undo that," he stated, without specifying who had urged him to act.
After signing the pardon, Trump added, "Congratulations, Devon."
The Oglala Sioux Tribe is located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation that is in one of the poorest counties in the United States.
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