Trump frees convicted fraudster from prison — for the second time

President Donald Trump has once again signed clemency paperwork for convicted fraudster Adriana Camberos, despite commuting a previous jail sentence once before in his first term.

The New York Times reported Friday that Trump officially freed Camberos, who in April of 2025 had been sentenced to one year in prison. She was one of several Trump clemency recipients who went on to commit more crimes after being let out of federal prison.

According to the Times, Camberos was initially jailed in 2019 after being convicted of selling millions of counterfeit bottles of 5-Hour Energy. She mounted her clemency bid by hiring Trump-linked attorney Adam Katz (who previously represented former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani) and former Trump deputy White House counsel Stefan C. Passantino.

A month after filing her clemency application, Camberos' brother, Andres, made a $50,000 donation to Trump's 2020 campaign. Her 26-month sentence was ultimately commuted during Trump's lame-duck period after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.

However, Camberos went right back to crime not long after Trump freed her from prison. She and her brother schemed to buy steeply discounted consumer goods directly from manufacturers in order to sell them in Mexico (which is legal). However, rather than offloading the items in the Mexican market, the Camberos siblings sold the goods in the United States at a markup, and committed bank fraud and mail fraud in order to conceal their paper trail.

Andres and Adriana Camberos were charged by the Biden administration's Department of Justice in 2023, and convicted in 2024. Andres was sentenced to one year of home confinement, while Adriana was sentenced to 12 months plus additional time for violating her probation.

While both siblings were ordered to pay back millions in restitution, it remains unknown whether the commutation will liberate Adriana Camberos from her obligation to pay the penalties. The Times reported that clemency recipients are typically not expected to pay restitution.

Click here to read the Times' full report (subscription required).