Money Grab/Pardon donors and drop cases against friends
Trump pardons banker after daughter’s $3.5M donation to his super PAC
Julio Herrera Velutini, a foreign billionaire banker, was charged with bribing Puerto Rico’s governor. After his daughter gave $3.5 million to a Trump super PAC, her only prior recorded political donation being $20, Trump pardoned him in January 2026.
What happened
In 2022 the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section charged Julio Herrera Velutini, a Venezuelan-Italian billionaire banker, with bribing Puerto Rico’s governor. He is the founder of Britannia Financial Group. Former governor Wanda Vazquez Garced and former FBI agent Mark Rossini were charged with him with conspiracy, bribery and honest-services fraud over her 2020 campaign.
As trial neared in 2025, Trump’s Justice Department dropped the felonies and in August let all three plead guilty to misdemeanor campaign-finance violations. The judge called the penalty “a mere slap on the wrist.” Among the lawyers who brokered the deal was Chris Kise, a former Trump defense attorney.
FEC records show Herrera Velutini’s daughter, Isabel Herrera, gave $2.5 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. in December 2024 and $1 million in July 2025. The New York Times reported her only earlier federal donation was $20. On January 15, 2026, Trump pardoned all three; the pardons were reissued January 20 to cover the misdemeanors. The White House said the donations had nothing to do with it.
Who benefited
Herrera Velutini’s federal case ended with a full pardon, as did those of his co-defendants Vazquez and Rossini. MAGA Inc. received $3.5 million. The money went to the committee, not to Trump, so it is not counted as his take.
Who wanted something
Herrera Velutini faced a federal criminal case, and his daughter made the donations. His lawyer, a former Trump defense attorney, negotiated the plea deal and thanked the president for the pardon. In February 2026 the Campaign Legal Center asked the FEC to investigate whether the money had come from her father, a foreign national barred from donating.
Who lost out
The federal prosecution lost out. A bribery case against a U.S. territory’s governor and her alleged benefactor, brought by a unit since largely dismantled, ended first in misdemeanor pleas and then in pardons rather than a verdict.
Why it matters
A $3.5 million gift from someone whose previous political giving totaled $20 was followed by a pardon for her father. By May 2026 congressional Democrats were investigating whether Trump’s pardons were pay-to-play, and this case was among those cited. A complaint alleging the money was really the father’s is pending at the FEC.
Sources ForbesCBS NewsBloomberg LawCampaign Legal Center (primary)