News - Freed from prison by Trump in 2021, New Jersey con man gets 37 years in latest scheme

TRENTON, NJ — A New Jersey Ponzi schemer, whose 24-year prison term for fraud convictions was commuted by President Donald Trump in 2021, is headed back behind bars for another multi-million-dollar fraud scheme. Eliyahu "Eli" Weinstein, 51, was sentenced on Nov. 14 to 37 years in federal prison for falsely promising investors access to supplies bound for war-torn Ukraine, according to court documents. U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp imposed the sentence on Weinstein and ordered him to make $44,294,803 in restitution. Weinstein, of Lakewood, New Jersey, stood trial earlier this year and was found guilty on March 31 of 15 of 17 counts in a federal indictment charging securities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, making false statements to and concealing material facts from the United States Probation Office, obstruction of justice, and conspiracies to commit those crimes. He was acquitted of two obstruction charges. Before the case, Weinstein was twice convicted in federal court of defrauding investors out of a total $230 million, according to federal prosecutors. In 2014, he was sentenced to 22 years in prison for a $200 million real estate Ponzi scheme from 2004 to 2011. His prison term was extended by two years for committing additional fraud in 2014 while he was on pretrial release in the first case. Trump commuted Weinstein's sentence on Jan. 19, 2021, the day before his first presidential term ended. As a result, Weinstein was released from prison after serving less than eight years. 'Didn’t try to make his prior victims whole — he made more victims' Soon after being released from prison, Weinstein embarked on a new scheme to solicit money by offering lucrative opportunities to invest in deals involving COVID-19 masks, scarce baby formula, and first-aid kits supposedly bound for war-torn Ukraine, prosecutors said. Weinstein masked his true identity in the venture and instead used "Mike Konig" as an alias because, as he acknowledged in a secretly recorded conversation with co-conspirators, investors wouldn't give them "a penny'' if they knew of his involvement, according to documents and statements made in court. Trump's latest pardon is a crypt CEO. Here are 8 more. After investors weren't paid, the conspirators agreed to pool money from existing investors and use it to make payments to other investors in a Ponzi-like fashion, prosecutors said. After revealing his true identity to conspirators in a secretly recorded meeting in August 2022, Weinstein admitted misappropriating investors' money and said, "I finagled and Ponzied and lied to people to cover us," according to court documents and statements made in court. In 2024, Weinstein, along with his conspirator Arhey "Ari" Bromberg, 51, was indicted for the fraud scheme. At the time, prosecutors said three other alleged conspirators had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud. That same year, two others also pleaded guilty to conspiring with Weinstein, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey and the Asbury Park Press, part of the USA TODAY Network. Did Trump pardon Rudy Giuliani? Yes, see the list of other 2025 pardons. "As alleged, soon after Weinstein got out of jail after receiving a Presidential commutation, he picked his Ponzi schemer’s playbook back up and allegedly started ripping off victims again," former U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a statement following Weinstein's indictment. "Weinstein didn’t try to make his prior victims whole — he made more victims." Weinstein stood trial with Bromberg, who was convicted of 10 counts in the indictment. Shipp on Nov. 14 sentenced Bromberg to 12 years in prison. Contributing: Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY