A Maine developer once dubbed “Donald Trump with a Maine accent” has accepted former President Donald Trump’s pardon but still has legal battles ahead.
Michael Liberty, 60, was among the more than 140 people who received last-minute pardons and clemency in Trump’s final hours of his presidency.
The pardon for Liberty, now of Florida, centered on his conviction for violating federal campaign finance laws during the 2012 presidential election. Liberty pleaded guilty in 2016 to illegally contributing $22,500 to Republican Mitt Romney’s primary campaign in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act.
A federal judge in 2017 sentenced him to four months in prison, with a year of supervised release, and to pay a $100,000 fine. He was released from a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Florida in January 2018.
Liberty was facing trial for wire and securities fraud in September along with his business associate Paul Hess, who authorities allege, with Liberty, raised millions from investors for his financial technology company in Austin, Texas. In court documents, Liberty’s lawyer George Z. Singal said the case against him was resolved as a result of the pardon, the Portland Press Herald reported.
However, the pardon won’t save Liberty from being forced by prosecutors to testify against Hess. It also won’t prevent him from facing civil cases against him, Farmington lawyer Paul Mills told the Press Herald.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit in 2018 against Liberty allegeding he defrauded investors of $50 million. The commission can also continue with a separate case against Liberty in Pennsylvania, the Press Herald reported.
Liberty was not the only Mainer to receive a pardon or clemency from Trump in his final hours in office. He was accompanied by Michael Pelletier of St. David, who was given a life sentence in 2006 for his role in a multimillion-dollar international marijuana smuggling ring. His sentence was commuted.