- Details
- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Policy and Law
President Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of Jason Galanis, the second person convicted in a scheme that defrauded the Oglala Sioux Nation to receive clemency in recent days.
The Justice Department published a notice of clemency Monday for Galanis, following Trump's signing of the order on March 28 without public announcement.
Galanis was serving a 189-month prison sentence—nearly 16 years—for his role in misappropriating proceeds from bonds issued by the Wakpamni Lake Community Corporation (WLCC), a tribal economic development entity. The scheme defrauded the tribe and other investors of tens of millions of dollars.
His sentence included a court order to forfeit approximately $80.8 million and pay an equivalent amount in restitution. The presidential clemency commutes "his entire sentence to time served with no further fines, restitution, probation, or other conditions," according to the official Executive Grant of Clemency.
"He and his codefendants engaged in market manipulation and the defrauding of shareholders, and they stole a large portion of the proceeds of tribal bonds that were intended to fund economic development projects," then-acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss said in a statement when Galanis was sentenced in 2020.
Federal prosecutors documented how Galanis, Archer and others convinced the WLCC between 2014 and 2016 to issue bonds with the promise that proceeds would generate investment returns for tribal economic development. Instead, court records show they diverted more than $38 million for their own purposes.
Court documents indicate Galanis used more than $8.5 million personally for his home, jewelry, clothing, travel and entertainment. The conspirators also placed worthless tribal bonds in client investment accounts, knowing the securities were illiquid with no secondary market.
Trump offered no explanation for granting Galanis clemency.
Both Galanis and Archer provided testimony during the Republican impeachment investigation of former President Joe Biden. Politico reported that Galanis testified from prison about his interactions with Hunter Biden, while Hunter Biden stated under oath that he only briefly met Galanis years earlier. Hunter Biden was never implicated in the fraud.
Last week, Trump pardoned Archer, who received a one-year-and-one-day sentence for the same fraud but never served time. At that signing, Trump stated, "I think he was treated very unfairly. He was a victim of a crime as far as I'm concerned."
Unlike the full pardon granted to Archer, Galanis's commutation reduces his sentence, but does not erase the underlying conviction.
With these clemency actions, Galanis is freed from prison and relieved of further financial penalties, while Archer's conviction has been completely erased.
