People pardoned by Trump want banks to forgive their past, too

"It's one thing to be cleared by the president. It's another to be cleared by the bank. Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy was pardoned at the end of President Donald Trump's first term after a conviction for violating a U.S. lobbying law. Yet when he applied for an American Express Co. credit card this year, the lender denied him, citing his criminal history."

"The separate cases, brought by lawyers who have represented an advocacy group co-founded by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, are testing the bounds of forgiveness and if clemency is truly meant to wipe the slate clean. At stake is whether a pardon, meant to erase the legal stain of a conviction, can override the risk assessments of private lenders that are required to guard against money laundering, fraud and other financial crimes."

"It's a critical question as clemency becomes all the more common. President Joe Biden granted more than 4,000 commutations and pardons in his four-year term, a record. Trump has followed with more than 1,600 of his own in nine months since taking office, including for participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol. Just last week, he commuted the sentence of Republican lawmaker George Santos, who was serving time after being convicted of stealing campaign funds."

Two men pardoned at the end of President Trump's first term, Elliott Broidy and Mahmoud Reza Banki, sued financial institutions after being denied credit or facing account closures despite their pardons. Broidy was denied an American Express credit card citing his criminal history, and Banki says JPMorgan Chase sought to close his accounts over a 15-year-old conviction. Lawyers linked to an advocacy group co-founded by Stephen Miller brought the suits, raising whether pardons erase legal consequences or whether private lenders may still act on risk assessments to guard against money laundering, fraud and other financial crimes. Evidence of wrongdoing remains in the public record, and clemency has increased under both President Biden and President Trump.

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