A rise in presidential pardons for white-collar criminals has given hope to fraudsters of a different flavor.
Three convicted political scammers — Richard Zeitlin, William Tierney and Matt Tunstall — have formally sought pardons from President Donald Trump, seeking the same leniency the president has shown a number of felonious cryptocurrency, finance and health care executives.
Zeitlin, Tierney and Tunstall collectively swindled tens of thousands of Americans, including Trump supporters, of over $120 million, according to court records. Their individual schemes involved the creation, operation or support of fraudulent political committees, charitable organizations and robocall operations that employed dishonest fundraising tactics, such as adopting false identities and even impersonating Trump.
The trio’s requests injected new intrigue into what’s become a pardon-system free-for-all.
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Since Trump granted clemency to nearly 1,600 Jan. 6 riot defendants just after taking office in 2025, pardons have become less of a methodical, Justice Department-administered process and more of a psyop. A pay-to-pardon environment emerged, with wealthy criminals offering wads of cash to lobbyists claiming MAGA connections — attracting a diverse criminal clientele, from rappers and CEOs to crypto bros.
“If you’re a scammer of any kind — a white-collar criminal, generally — you’re going to be made hopeful by all this,” Frank Bowman, professor emeritus at the University of Missouri School of Law who is publishing a book on the history of pardons, told NOTUS. “They’re going to certainly think of themselves as being analogous to a lot of the folks who’ve gotten sort of Trumpian largesse.”
The Trump administration last month denied Tunstall’s request, and the White House team that reviews clemency requests is not currently tracking those of Zeitlin and Tierney, according to a White House official. The official described the review process as “thorough,” with Trump delivering the final verdict.
“President Trump has exercised his constitutional authority to issue pardons and commutations for a variety of individuals,” Lauren Bis, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement to NOTUS. Bis criticized how President Joe Biden and Democratic governors used their pardon power, saying Biden pardoned and commuted the sentences of dangerous individuals and people in the country illegally.
Representatives for Zeitlin, Tierney and Tunstall couldn’t be reached for comment.
After building a telemarketing empire that for decades took advantage of unsuspecting donors, Zeitlin was convicted of a litany of offenses in 2023, including wire fraud. Zeitlin’s telemarketing business raised money for political action committees that purported to support an array of causes — many associated with conservatives — including police safety, military veterans and children with cancer. But authorities said he kept most of that money for himself.
Zeitlin received a 10-year prison sentence in 2024. This year, he filed paperwork with the Justice Department to have his sentence commuted. His request is pending.
Tierney operated six scam PACs and defrauded tens of thousands of small-dollar donors through calls and mailed solicitations, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York. The groups claimed to support causes including law enforcement and the anti-abortion movement.
Tierney used multiple fake identities to perpetuate the charade. Less than 1% of the money raised supported the advertised causes. Tierney pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and in 2019 was sentenced to two years in prison and over $1 million in restitution. He has hired the Vogel Group, a D.C.-based lobbying and consulting firm, for $100,000, according to lobbying disclosures. His pardon request is also pending.
While Zeitlin and Tierney probably defrauded tens of thousands of Trump supporters, Tunstall literally impersonated the president.
Using robocalls impersonating Trump and his campaign, Tunstall raised over $3.4 million by 2021, according to CNN. He spent most of the money on more robocalls, but funneled at least $738,000 to himself. A federal judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison in 2023. Tunstall applied for Trump to commute his sentence last year.
Tunstall’s use of Trump’s name for personal enrichment could explain why his request was denied on July 10, among a batch of denials that focused on clearing a backlog of older pardon requests.
“If you’ve got some guy who’s directly going out and impersonating Trump personally, but not cutting Trump in,” Bowman said, “that seems to me to be a low-probability application for success.”
Perhaps the closest analogue to Zeitlin’s and Tierney’s cases was Michele Fiore. Fiore was convicted in 2024 after she raised $70,000 for a memorial honoring slain Las Vegas police officer Alyn Beck. She spent the money on rent, a wedding and plastic surgery.
Trump pardoned Fiore, a former Nevada state lawmaker and Las Vegas City Council member, in April of last year before she was sentenced. But Fiore’s case differed in a significant way: She is an ardent Trump supporter.
Support or past affiliation with Trump has been a recurring characteristic of pardon recipients during his second term. Zeitlin and Tierney lack strong MAGA credentials.
“Because specifically it’s Trump that they’re leveraging through their frauds to make money, that’s going to make it less probable that they’re going to get granted clemency,” said Mark Osler, a pardon expert and law professor at the University of St. Thomas. “Right now, you have a lot of people who are petitioning for clemency who aren’t getting it — you know, who don’t have that baggage.”
Presidents have historically wielded the pardon power in a different way than Trump. For example, advisers from the Justice Department’s pardon office typically recommended for presidential consideration applicants who showed remorse and had served their sentence.
Trump began unraveling these norms during his first term. President Joe Biden also made ethicists cringe, issuing pardons to his son, Hunter, and others, such as former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, that detractors considered politically motivated. Trump’s immediate pardon of the Jan. 6 defendants made political pardons the status quo, deprioritizing the office tasked with examining applicants.
“When I was pardon attorney, political support was not something that we took into consideration in any way, shape or form,” Elizabeth Oyer, who served in that role from 2022 to March 2025, told NOTUS. “The pardon process is intended to be nonpolitical.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche fired Oyer after she refused to recommend that actor and director Mel Gibson, a prominent Trump supporter, have his gun rights restored, according to Oyer. The U.S. pardon attorney role is not a political appointment.
“There are thousands of people who have applied through the ordinary Justice Department process, who do not have political connections or money to spend on lobbyists,” Oyer said. “Those people are being overlooked in favor of the wealthy and well-connected.”
“That is fundamentally at odds with how the pardon process is supposed to work,” she added.
Tunstall and Zeitlin weren’t only seeking presidential pardons to win their freedom.
In February, Tunstall requested a compassionate release from prison. He cited his father-in-law’s failing health and inability to properly care for Tunstall’s daughter. “I pose no threat to the community as I have demonstrated excellent behavior not only rehabilitating myself, but also helping others,” Tunstall wrote to a federal judge, adding that he would be a “loving father and productive member of society” if released.
The judge denied Tunstall’s request three days after receiving it.
Tunstall, who is imprisoned in Mendota, California, is expected to remain incarcerated until December 2030.
Zeitlin is imprisoned at a federal penitentiary in Montgomery, Alabama. In March, he sued the prison warden, arguing he should be eligible to be released a month earlier than scheduled. If Zeitlin’s lawsuit is successful, he would be eligible for prerelease custody on Aug. 1, 2031, according to the warden’s response to the lawsuit.
Tierney completed his sentence in 2021.
It’s unclear whether efforts by Zeitlin and Tierney will ever win Trump’s attention and favor. Then again, Trump has issued a number of unexpected pardons during the past 20 months.
“One thing that we know is that presidents tend to favor, with clemency, the kind of people they have empathy for,” Osler said. “Where they can see a little bit of themselves in that person.”
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