By Katelynn Richardson
President Joe Biden granted clemency Thursday to a former Ohio Democratic official who was convicted for taking bribes for nearly a decade. He also commuted the sentence of an Illinois comptroller who stole $53 million from her city to build a horse breeding and show operation, and granted clemency to a lawyer whom prosecutors had described as “the most prolific, pernicious, and utterly unrepentant tax cheat in United States history” — a tax cheat whose actions cost taxpayers $1.63 billion.
Cuyahoga County, Ohio Commissioner Jimmy Dimora took over $166,000 worth of bribes, which included “cash, home improvements, lavish meals at high-end restaurants, services from prostitutes, gambling trips to Las Vegas and Canada, and other items.” In exchange for bribes, Dimora made efforts to “steer contracts to allies, get jobs and raises for associates, intercede with judges on pending cases, lobby for grants and favorable loans for people who paid him.” He was sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2012.
Dimora previously requested clemency from President Barack Obama. Obama ignored the request while agreeing to commute hundreds of other sentences towards the end of his term.
Dimora was one of nearly 1,500 individuals whose sentences Biden commuted on Thursday in what the White House described as “the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history.”
President Biden and I believe in the power of redemption.
Today, President Biden pardoned 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes and commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people. These individuals have demonstrated they deserve a second chance, and second chances make our communities stronger.
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) December 12, 2024
“I am also commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who are serving long prison sentences – many of whom would receive lower sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies, and practices,” Biden wrote in a statement Thursday. “These commutation recipients, who were placed on home confinement during the COVID pandemic, have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.”
Dimora was released to home confinement under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and was previously set to remain there until 2030, according to the Akron Beacon Journal. (RELATED: Biden Commutes Sentences Of Cartel Leaders, Crack Dealers And ‘Notorious’ Fraudsters In Massive Clemency Push)
Over 50 people were convicted in the investigation into corruption in Cuyahoga County that Dimora’s trial exposed.
The list of individuals whose sentences were commuted by Biden also includes drug traffickers, crack dealers and fraudsters who stole tens of millions of dollars. Biden’s clemency also benefited Chinese spies and the brother of Hamas’s founder. Biden also commuted the sentence of a viciously corrupt judge who was part of a scheme that sent 2,500 kids to a for-profit prison for excessive periods, in exchange for kickbacks. The kids were given excessively long sentences in order to keep the for-profit prison full.
