Let's Be Clear — Biden's Pardons Are A Disgrace

Kids for cash human trafficking, abusing cancer patients, exploiting senior citizens, & historic civic embezzlement deserve consequences—not commutations

Last month I expressed deep concern that while Joe Biden was quick to pardon his son, he stopped there. I pointed out that Biden had done nothing to pardon the thousands of non-violent drug offenders in prison due in part to his 1994 crime bill, nor commute the 40 people on federal death row to life in prison, nor cancel student debt, nor sign an EO protecting abortion access, nor pardon Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier or climate activist Steven Donziger, nor enact the ERA.

Finally, due to each of you raising your voices, and due to pressure from countless activists and organizations, President Biden took a step forward and pardoned approximately 1500 people. I commended this move, while pointing out it still falls short of the dire need of the moment. But now as we further investigate these pardons, we see a horrific reality—Joe Biden has pardoned some of the worst people in the United States.

These are not folks caught up in an unjust criminal justice system, folks who were misled or denied due process, or folks who simply didn’t know better. In numerous cases, Joe Biden pardoned powerful people who knowingly trafficked children, abused the elderly, abused sick patients, and stole historic amounts of funds from the American people. They caused generational harm that is still impacting countless Americans today. If Donald Trump had done this, we would have rightly loudly condemned the injustice. As a human rights lawyer, my standard remains justice above all else, and we need to recognize and reject the injustices Joe Biden has committed—and that begins with ensure we are informed.

Let’s Address This.

Far from enacting systemic change for the better, Biden’s pardons ensure further harm to the American people. Below I dive into just four such examples. We rightly condemned Donald Trump for pardoning war criminals and his wealthy friends. As you read below, ask yourself if these look like the acts of a man committed to justice and fairness, or something Donald Trump would do to protect his cronies?

Kids For Cash

Judge Michael Conahan was sentenced to 17 years in prison for trafficking children in a modern day slavery ring. In exchange for at least $2.8M in kickbacks, Judge Conahan sentenced otherwise innocent children to a for-profit juvenile detention center over the course of several years. At least one child died by suicide due to the pain and suffering experienced at these for profit child prisons.

Perhaps even more embarrassing, when asked why Biden pardoned Judge Conahan, the White House responded that they “didn’t consider the case specifics.” This is either the height of cruelty or the height of incompetence. Either way, it is indefensible. Even worse, Joe Biden pardoned Judge Conahan for his horrific crimes, even though countless yet suffer today due to Conahan’s crimes, and even while not pardoning the children snared in Judge Conahan’s illegal child trafficking scheme.

Abusing Cancer Patients

Dr. Meera Sachdeva established a cancer center, then abused people at their lowest point—when they suffered cancer and went to her for treatment. Rather than assist them, Dr. Sachdeva committed healthcare fraud, allegedly diluted medications, used dirty syringes on patients, and according to several lawsuits, likely transmitted HIV and infected at least one person with the disease, and likely enabled the premature death of patients. This fraud continued for years, until Sachdeva was finally caught in 2012, sentenced to 20 years in person, and ordered to pay $8.2M in restitution.

Joe Biden inexplicably pardoned Dr. Sachdeva of her horrific crimes, crimes for which people are still suffering today.

Exploiting Senior Citizens

As the CEO of Indiana’s largest nursing home company, James Burkhart exploited senior citizens for $19.4 million dollars in fraud—money he later used to buy himself gold bars, go on lavish vacations, and private jets, and diamonds. Local media reports that, “Most of the stolen money came from the Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County, a public health agency that owns nursing homes and operates Eskenazi hospital.” For his horrific abuse of the elderly, a judge sentenced Burkhart to 9.5 years in prison.

Joe Biden pardoned James Burkart of his abusive crimes, crimes for which people are still suffering today.

Stealing from Working People

Former Dixon, IL comptroller Rita Crundwell set a record when she embezzled $53 million from the rural Illinois town. The record? She committed the largest embezzlement of a town in U.S. history. Crundwell used these stolen funds to feed her horse breeding addiction, buy homes, more than four dozen luxury cars, and even a luxury motorhome. The City of Dixon condemned the pardon, stating:

"The City of Dixon is shocked and outraged with the announcement that President Biden has given Rita Crundwell clemency for the largest municipal embezzlement in the history of our country," current Dixon City Manager Danny Langlossa said in a statement reacting to Biden's commutation of Crundwell's sentence. "This is a complete travesty of justice and a slap in the face for our entire community."

Joe Biden pardoned Rita Crundwell of her historic crimes, crimes for which people ares still suffering today.

The List Goes On

The power of the pardon is afforded to Presidents to right wrongs committed by our nation’s historically unjust criminal justice system. A system that incarcerates Black and brown people at up to 6x higher rates than white people, while sentencing Black and brown people to 20% longer prison sentences for the exact same crimes. Yet, the above grotesque pardons are but a snapshot. In my analysis of the near 1500 pardons Biden issued, I found numerous more examples of pardons given to wealthy elites who used their status and power to exploit vulnerable people, engage in international drug trafficking, and steal from already marginalized communities.

Meanwhile, as of the writing of this piece, Leonard Peltier languishes in prison, as does Steven Donziger, as do thousands of non-violent drug offenders in federal prison—many of them incarcerated due to Biden’s own 1994 crime bill that drastically increased mass incarceration of particularly Black and brown communities—student debt is still not cancelled, nor is the ERA enacted, nor is abortion protected via EO at least until January 20th

In my calls to Biden to pardon unjustly targeted people and communities, I wrote:

If Biden truly believes in justice, he cannot stop at only protecting his son. He must fight to protect all Americans from malicious harm. The presidency is a powerful office—not for selective compassion, but for systemic change. And it is long past time Biden used it.

Unfortunately, far from advancing systemic change, Biden has further entrenched a system that ensures one level of justice for the wealthy and well connected, and another level of injustice for the low income and marginalized. Instead, Biden has found time to use his awesome power of the presidency to pardon wealthy judges who exploit children, but to protect the children exploited by those wealthy judges.

We must not relent in demanding Biden stop these injustices, and instead uphold meaningful justice for those who have actually been wronged by our unjust criminal justice system. Silence is simply not an option.