Source: CNN
“Victims of major public corruption cases in Pennsylvania and Illinois are angry that President Joe Biden granted clemency this week to two convicted officials. The commutations were announced Thursday as part of a historic clemency package for 1,500 convicted criminals who, the White House said, ‘deserve a second chance.’ The two convicted officials whose cases sparked outrage – a crooked Pennsylvania judge and a notorious Illinois fraudster – both had already been released from prison early and put on house arrest during the Covid-19 pandemic. Biden’s actions now end that punishment. … Former Pennsylvania Judge Michael Conahan was convicted in 2011 in what was infamously called the ‘kids-for-cash’ scandal, where he took kickbacks from for-profit detention centers in exchange for wrongly sending juveniles to their facilities. … [Rita Crundwell] pleaded guilty in 2012 to a $54 million embezzlement scheme, which was believed to be the largest municipal fraud in US history.” (12/13/24)