Drug dealer whose sentence was commuted by Trump sent back to jail for 27monts

A loan shark and convicted drug dealer who had been granted clemency by US President Donald Trump during his first term in office has been sent back to jail after being arrested and charged in connection with several recent crimes.

Jonathan Braun, from Long Island, New York, was sentenced to 27 months behind bars on Monday for violating the terms of his release.

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According to The Associated Press, Braun was a high-ranking member of an international group that smuggled more than 100,000 kilograms of marijuana from Canada into the United States.

In 2019, Braun was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to drug-related charges. But he served only about a year behind bars before Trump commuted his sentence in the final days of his first term in January 2021.

Though Braun was freed from prison, the rest of his sentence remained intact, including requirements that he pay a fine and stay out of trouble.

New charges against Jonathan Braun

The 41-year-old was arrested in April this year for violating the terms of his release, including charges of punching a man during a dinner at his home, injuring a three-year-old, evading bridge tolls at least 40 times while driving his luxury cars, and accruing $160 in unpaid fees.

Drug dealer whose sentence was commuted by Trump sent back to jail for 27monts — In 2019, Braun was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to drug-related charges. (Photo: Newsweek)

He was also accused of swinging an IV pole at a hospital nurse and threatening to kill her, screaming at a member of his synagogue, and groping his family’s nanny.

‘serious danger to community’

Prosecutors had sought a five-year sentence, the maximum punishment allowed, arguing that a lengthy stint behind bars was “necessary to protect the public from further crimes.”

“The defendant’s brazen and violent conduct caused fear and terror in his victims,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing ahead of his sentencing, according to The Associated Press. Braun, they said, has continued to show that he is a “serious danger to the community.”

Braun’s federal public defender, Kathryn Wozencroft, had sought for him to be released immediately.

Since returning to jail, she said, Braun has been meeting with a psychiatrist, gotten sober and worked to rebuild his faith and community support, talking with a rabbi twice a week and expressing remorse to him for his actions. Braun’s conduct, she said, was driven by addiction.

Brooklyn federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said she hoped Braun’s “expressions of remorse” and promises to “lead a law abiding life” were in good faith, noting that many of the people who he had harmed have since forgiven him.