Trump pardons billionaire banker in Puerto Rico bribery case

On January 15, 2026, President Trump granted full and unconditional pardons to Julio Herrera Velutini, a billionaire banker from a prominent Venezuelan family who also holds Italian citizenship; Mark Rossini, a former FBI agent who had worked as his consultant; and Wanda Vázquez Garced, the former governor of Puerto Rico. The Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney lists the pardons as amended on January 20. In August 2022 the three were charged with felonies including conspiracy, federal program bribery and honest services wire fraud over a scheme to bribe Vázquez to dismiss a regulator who was investigating Herrera's Puerto Rico bank; all pleaded not guilty. Herrera's lawyer, Christopher Kise, a former Florida solicitor general who had been on Trump's personal legal team, negotiated a deal under which Herrera pleaded guilty in August 2025 to a single misdemeanor campaign finance charge, listed by the Pardon Attorney as contribution by a foreign national. Vázquez and Rossini also pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, disappointing career prosecutors who had pushed for harsher sentences. Trump pardoned all three shortly before they were to be sentenced. Herrera had enlisted Kise to seek clemency. His daughter, Isabela Herrera, had given $3.5 million to MAGA Inc., and her company, Concord Partners, had hired Alina Habba, Trump's former personal lawyer, as general counsel for more than $50 million over four years. Habba started on January 1, 2026, while a senior adviser to Attorney General Pam Bondi. People familiar with Habba's contract told The New York Times they believed she was brought in to help with the pardon push. Habba denied any role, the Justice Department said she did not speak to anyone about a pardon, and a White House official said she had nothing to do with it and that pardons go through a review that includes the White House Counsel's Office and the Justice Department.