A convicted drug dealer in New York and predatory lender Released after 10 years in federal prison commuting In 2021 by then-Pres Donald Trump was arrested on assault charges, court records show.
Jonathan Brown was accused of assaulting his 75-year-old father-in-law on Tuesday as his daughter tried to protect Brown’s wife from Brown, according to court documents in Nassau County, Long Island. Separately, Brown was accused of assaulting the same woman last month and last week. The New York Times informed.
Brown pleaded not guilty to three counts of assault at his arraignment Wednesday and was released without bail on those charges, court records show.
He was also charged with petit larceny in Nassau County Superior Court, related to allegations that both failed to pay $160 in bridge tolls while driving a Lamborghini and a Ferrari without license plates, according to the Times.
Brown was fined $20 million in February by Manhattan federal court Judge Jed Rakoff in a civil case in which the Federal Trade Commission sued Brown over predatory lending practices.
“The evidence … demonstrates that Mr. Brown not only personally engaged in this illegal conduct, but that he did so with glee and little remorse,” Rakoff wrote in his ruling, citing emails Brown sent about the loans.
CNBC has reached out to Brown’s attorney, Mark Fernich, for comment.
“Unlike Kamala Harris, who wants to end bail, President Trump wants criminals to spend time behind bars,” Caroline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump, now the GOP presidential candidate, said in a statement about Brown’s arrest.
vice president Harris He is the presidential candidate of the Democrats.
When Trump pardoned him on Jan. 20, 2021, hours before he left the White House, Brown had served more than five years in prison for conspiracy to import marijuana and money laundering.
Brown is on felony probation, meaning he could potentially be returned to federal prison if a judge finds he violated the terms of his release.
Last fall, The Times reported that Trump’s replacement stymied ongoing efforts by prosecutors to negotiate a cooperation deal with Brown that would have freed him from jail in exchange for information about other predatory lenders for the criminal investigation.
The Times also reported that Brown used his family’s connections to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, then a top White House aide, to trigger the pardons he received from the then-president. .