CBS News has put a number on a side of presidential pardons that rarely gets attention: what happens to the people who were owed money. In an investigation published Oct. 27, 2026, by Gabe Kaminsky, Steve Reilly and Daniel Klaidman, CBS reviewed court judgments in more than 160 clemency orders issued by President Donald Trump from January 2025 through October 2026 and counted restitution that was still unpaid when clemency was granted.
The headline finding is at least $119 million in restitution owed directly to crime victims was erased. CBS puts the precise figure at $119.4 million, and says that is only part of a much larger total.
The numbers
According to CBS, about $1.1 billion in federal fines and restitution was affected by Trump’s clemency since January 2025. The breakdown CBS reports is:
- $119.4 million in restitution no longer owed directly to crime victims
- $119.9 million in fines no longer owed to the federal Crime Victims Fund, which helps pay for victims’ medical bills, counseling and shelters
- About $665.8 million in restitution requested by prosecutors but canceled by a clemency grant before a court ruled
- About $170.9 million in restitution jointly owed with co-defendants who did not receive clemency
For comparison, CBS reports that former President Joe Biden’s clemency orders erased $14,000 during his four years in office, based on Justice Department records CBS cited. Most of Biden’s orders were commutations that left financial penalties intact, rather than pardons, according to CBS.
CBS also reports that about 70 percent of Trump’s second term clemency actions bypassed the Justice Department’s pardon office, the traditional route. That figure rises to 92 percent when Jan. 6 cases are included. CBS excluded more than 1,500 blanket pardons and commutations tied to the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot from its restitution count, noting courts typically ordered standard restitution of $500 or $2,000 in those cases for damage to the Capitol.
At least 18 clemency recipients freed from orders to pay fines or restitution had White House ties, according to CBS, based on court filings, campaign finance disclosures and other records. In those cases, CBS reports, lawyers, lobbyists or close political allies advocated for them, or the recipient or family members had donated to support Trump’s reelection campaign.
Who lost out
Restitution is different from a fine. Restitution goes directly to victims. Fines go into a federal fund. CBS notes that clemency does not erase civil liability, so victims can still sue, but lawsuits can be costly and slow. Before clemency, restitution orders allowed the government to claw money back for 20 years after release through paycheck withholding, property liens or tax refund withholding. Clemency ends that enforcement.
CBS breaks down identified victims in court records as private businesses at 56 percent, state and federal agencies at 23 percent, and individuals at 21 percent. The victims CBS names range from small family food businesses and community banks to large companies, the IRS and other agencies, and individual investors.
A few cases illustrate the pattern CBS describes, in summary:
The largest single sum wiped away, according to CBS, was almost $49 million ordered to be paid by siblings Andres and Adriana Camberos, convicted in October 2024 of a scheme to get steep discounts from food manufacturers and resell goods in the United States at a markup. A court ordered repayment to 19 companies, from Mars Wrigley Confectionery, owed $22 million, to True Made Foods, a small veteran owned business in Virginia, owed $17,800. Trump granted both siblings clemency in January 2026. It was Adriana Camberos’ second grant of clemency from Trump, after a commutation on his last day in office in 2021 for an earlier fraud.
Former reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley owed $17 million to victims of a scheme to defraud Atlanta area community banks out of more than $36 million in loans, according to CBS.
David Gentile, former CEO of GPB Capital Holdings, served only 12 days of a seven year sentence when Trump freed him in November 2025, according to CBS. Prosecutors said Gentile ran a $1.6 billion investment fraud that drew in more than 10,000 investors. CBS, confirming earlier New York Times reporting, reports that federal prosecutors in Brooklyn later gathered evidence that Gentile had discussed paying $2.5 million to secure his commutation, and that an investigation into those alleged payments was ordered shut down in its early stages by Justice Department political appointees, according to anonymous sources. A retired priest named in that reporting denied that any money was paid to help win clemency for Gentile.
Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola Corp., falls in a different category CBS counts separately. Prosecutors argued Milton owed victims $660.8 million, but a judge never ruled on that request because Trump pardoned Milton in March 2025, about two weeks after prosecutors made the demand. CBS reports Milton and his wife donated almost $3 million from September to October 2024 to political groups associated with Trump’s reelection. Milton told CBS he never donated expecting anything in return, and the White House told CBS donations played no role in the pardon decision.
The White House response
CBS reports the White House defends the clemency decisions as an exercise of the president’s constitutional authority at his discretion, and says anyone spending money to lobby for pardons is wasting that money. In individual cases, CBS reports, White House officials described sentences or financial penalties as egregious, politically motivated or prosecutorial overreach, while recipients and their advocates denied wrongdoing in the pardon process or declined to comment.
CBS also quotes clemency experts who warn that victims now face an uphill climb to recover money they lost, with restitution described as a rare form of restorative justice in the criminal justice system.
