This Trump Pardon Went Unnoticed And Is Enraging People

The final days of now-former US President Donald Trump saw a lot of pardons. Some were notable while others were questionable. One of the pardons that have caught the attention of most is the one involving Miami real estate developer Robert Zangrillo.

Zangrillo was among the 73 people pardoned by Trump, absolving him of any responsibility tied to the Operation Varsity Blues issue. Though he was not among the high profile personalities tied to the controversy, there were a lot of questions that cropped up. One of them included the people who supported the bout of clemency.

Among the names linked to the Zangrillo case were Len Blavatnik, Geoff Palmer, Tom Barrack, Sean Parker, Walid Abu-Zalaf, Medo Alsaloussi, and Kevin Downing. However, at least two from that group had denied having any knowledge or even knowing who Zangrillo is.

A spokesperson for Sean Parker, the founder of Napster and for a time served as early president of Facebook, said that he did not know Zongrillo and did not advocate for him. The same holds for billionaire investor Barrack who claimed that he was also not involved.

The case becomes more interesting. The Varsity Blues issue covers other more high-profile personalities who have been known to buy their kids way into college with huge amounts of money. Among the names embroiled in such include "Full House" actress Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli. Hence, it is interesting why Zangrillo’s case is different.

Zangrillo faced several charges as he tried to secure his daughter’s admission to the University of Southern California. Already rejected once, but consultant William Singer thought of a plan to resolve all that.

Amber Sangrillo could get into USC if they made it look like she was a recruit for the rowing team. This was despite her not rowing competitively. However, Ms. Zangrillo also needed to finish online classes to help her pass and get in as a transfer student. But somewhere along the way, Amber had been suffering problems after failing in one of the classes.

Singer tried to address that by having an employee retake the class for her. Amber was admitted in the same month but Bob Zangrillo ended up getting arrested in March 2019 for fraud.

Regardless of what they went through, most are still wondering why of all people, Zangillo was given a full pardon with a seemingly incomplete (or no) backing. Hence, there could be more to the backings and more revelations are likely to follow.