In commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic, President Joe Biden cut short the punishment for convicted Ponzi scheme fraudster Nevin Shapiro on Thursday.
Shapiro had been sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2011 after pleading guilty to charges stemming from $930 million he received from fooled investors between 2005 and 2009.
According to the FBI, $5 million of investor funds was spent on illegal sports gambling debts while another $400,000 went toward floor seats at Miami Heat games.
After being sentenced, Shapiro also said that he provided impermissible benefits to at least 72 University of Miami football and basketball players between 2002 and 2010. According to him, money went toward cash handouts, yacht access, nightclubs, sex workers, jewelry and more.
A resulting NCAA investigation—which itself would come under scrutiny for the role played by Shapiro’s lawyers—ultimately cost UM 12 scholarships across football and basketball while the Hurricanes were put on probation for three years.
According to the Miami Herald, Shapiro had been released from prison in 2020 as part of a COVID-era program to move inmates to home confinement. Following his release, Shapiro described prison as a “life-altering experience,” adding that he “never stopped thinking about my victims.” The Herald reported that a federal judge recently complimented Shaprio for cooperating with law enforcement in the return of $40 million dollars related to his crime.
A commutation doesn’t erase Shapiro’s conviction, though it does end the term of his sentence. The Associated Press called Biden’s commutations “the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.”
“As president, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses,” Biden said in a White House statement.
