Saturday, August 30, 2025

Technology, human weakness, and Trump's thing for fraudsters, grifters, and scammers

When I started researching computer crimes in the late 1980s it quickly became clear that digital technology was creating a lot of new opportunities for crime, but committing crimes was an age-old human problem. The more work I did in cybersecurity, the clearer this became. 

In my first book on the subject (1992), I said that ultimate success in the struggle to protect information depends not upon technology, but upon the development of appropriate ethical standards for the information age. When I produced a new edition of that book (1996), I observed that the need to promote ethical behavior in all aspects of business and personal life would remain a priority if we wanted to avoid crippling powerful new technology with ancient human weaknesses.

This is a screenshot of text that says "the need to promote ethical behavior in all aspects of business and personal life will remain a priority if we are not to cripple powerful new technology with ancient human weaknesses," as written by Stephen Cobb in 1996 This is a screenshot of text that says "the need to promote ethical behavior in all aspects of business and personal life will remain a priority if we are not to cripple powerful new technology with ancient human weaknesses," as written by Stephen Cobb in 1996
1996 quote about technology and human weaknesses

So what does this have to do with Donald Trump, the convicted felon now ruling America? Well, in my opinion no American in recent memory has done more to damage ethical standards and normalize unethical behavior. My opinion is based on facts and this post lists just one category of these: the pardons and commutations he has issued to other convicted felons, frauds, and scammer. 

Here are 10 pardons and three commutations that are particularly egregious in terms of lowering ethical standards and normalizing crimes of fraud and deceit, with references below that lead to more.
  1. Ross Ulbricht, created the Silk Road dark web marketplace for selling drugs and ordering murders
  2. Trevor Milton (Nikola founder), securities fraud that cheated investors out of more than $600 million
  3. Todd and Julie Chrisley, convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion, having submitted false financial statements to obtain over $30 million
  4. Benjamin Delo, Arthur Hayes, Samuel Reed, BitMEX co-founders convicted of Bank Secrecy Act violations
  5. Rod Blagojevich, 10 counts of wire fraud, four counts of conspiracy/attempted extortion 
  6. Devon Archer, convicted of defrauding the Oglala Sioux Nation to the tune of $60 million
  7. Carlos Watson (Ozy Media founder), wire fraud and identity theft
  8. Brian Kelsey, defrauded US government, aided and abetted the acceptance of excessive campaign contributions
  9. Scott Howard Jenkins, Sheriff of Culpeper County Jenkins who took $75,000 in bribes
  10. Paul Walczak, willful failure to pay trust fund taxes, ordered to pay $4.4 million in restitution
  11. Lawrence S. Duran, convicted of $200 million Medicare billing fraud (commuted)
  12. Marian I. Morgan, convicted of running a $28 million ponzi scheme (commuted)
  13. Imaad Zuberi, convicted of illegal campaign contributions, falsifying foreign agent records, obstructing  investigation into the source of a $900,000 campaign contribution he made to the 2016 Trump inaugural committee (commuted and released from paying $1.75 million fine and $15.7 million in restitution
An analysis by the House Judiciary Committee is, these pardons will deprive victims and taxpayers of $1.3 billion in restitution and fines (link to report in PDF format). Many of these individuals, including Trevor Milton, were major Trump donors. For example, thanks to a donation of over $1.8 million to Trump's re-election campaign, Milton got out of prison and off the hook for the $661 million he was ordered to pay in restitution to retail. 

In the case of Walczak, he was pardoned after his mother, Elizabeth Fago, donated $1 million to the MAGA Inc. investors. His conviction was for "failing to pay Social Security, Medicare, and federal income tax withholding taxes for employees of his health care companies, instead spending the money on personal expenses, including a $2 million yacht, [for which he was] sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $4.4 million in restitution" (Wikipedia). 

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