Drug dealer granted clemency by Trump violated parole: Court
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Inset: Jonathan Braun (Nassau County Police Department). Background: President Donald Trump listens to a question from a reporter before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, March 31, 2025 (Pool via AP).

A New York state drug dealer, whose sentence was reduced by President Donald Trump in 2021, has now been found guilty of repeatedly breaching his parole terms.

Jonathan Braun, 41, was recently adjudicated guilty of defying his supervised release conditions, accused of committing six distinct crimes. These include two charges of menacing, and one each for forcible touching, petit larceny, sexual abuse, and neglecting to pay a fine.

Beginning in August 2024, the defendant has faced numerous allegations from local law enforcement in Nassau County and other parts of Long Island.

In a memorandum and order issued Friday, senior U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto utilized the “preponderance of evidence” standard to evaluate the allegations made by New York law enforcement. This standard is notably less stringent than the typical “reasonable doubt” requirement for convicting a criminal defendant, yet it is permissible for determining parole violations.

In total, Braun encountered nine distinct charges since his parole. Matsumoto found that the initial three accusations were unsubstantiated. These involved two counts of assault and a count of child endangerment, related to an incident at Braun’s residence during a Sabbath dinner in late March.

The six other charges were “proven…by a preponderance of the evidence” and span from the summer of last year to March 22.

According to the complaint, on July 17, 2024, Braun allegedly pushed his wife off a bed, resulting in significant pain and leg bruises for her. Again, on August 12, 2024, Braun purportedly pushed his wife to the ground and struck her head, leading to significant pain, dizziness, and bruising, as reported by Long Island’s daily newspaper Newsday.

Most of the charges from that arrest were later dropped; the lone remaining charge is one count of petit larceny.

The larceny charge stems from separate scofflaw behavior behind the wheel. Braun allegedly drove his white Lamborghini and black Ferrari across a Long Island bridge without paying tolls or displaying license plates on either luxury car, accumulating $160 in tolls and fines.

“[S]taff observed toll evasion by the Lamborghini and Ferrari approximately 75 times by the time a complaint by the Nassau County Bridge Authority was made with the Nassau County Police Department,” Matsumoto wrote in his order.

On Feb. 15, Braun was arrested again – on one count of allegedly forcibly touching another person’s intimate parts. A sexual assault charge was later added. This incident allegedly involved the defendant attacking and groping the live-in nanny employed by his family.

The court’s order recites the allegations in detail and ends with the nanny escaping the alleged attack by locking herself in the bathroom and contacting her husband, Braun’s wife, and police.

“He knows people,” the nanny testified in the case against the defendant, “he’s dangerous and I don’t want him to hurt me.”

On March 22, Braun was arrested for the third time, on charges of menacing in the second and third degrees. This arrest stemmed from a January hospital visit where an argument with a nurse led to the defendant allegedly swinging an IV pole at the nurse.

“The Court finds credible [the nurse’s] testimony that Defendant swung an IV pole in her direction while yelling repeatedly that he was going to ‘kill’ her, thus intentionally placing [the nurse] in reasonable fear of her physical injury,” Matsumoto writes. “[The nurse] credibly testified that she feared that Defendant was intending, and was going to cause her physical injury when he swung the metal IV pole at her.”

Additionally, Braun is accused of threatening another congregant at a religious service after being asked to be quiet. Specifically, Braun allegedly pointedly asked the shh-ing man: “Do you know who I am?” and “Do you know what I could have done to you?” The defendant also allegedly “made a reference in Hebrew to the ‘Angel of Death.'” Then, Braun allegedly grabbed the other man’s arm and continued his threats.

“The Court finds that [the congregant’s] testimony was credible and his fear of injury from Defendant was well-founded,” the judge goes on. “Defendant intentionally placed [the congregant] in fear of physical injury by screaming threats at [him] and physically grabbing [his] arm with sufficient force to cause pain.”

The order ends with a recitation of the court fees Braun has long owed to the U.S. Department of Justice from his years-long legal troubles – and juxtaposes that debt with his apparent wealth.

“Defendant is required, as a condition of supervised release, to make payments towards his $100,000 fine under a court-ordered schedule,” Matsumoto notes. “Defendant reported to his probation officer that he is employed but had not provided verification, and that his earnings are directly deposited into his bank account. Defendant further reported that his family ‘takes care’ of him financially so he need not use his employment earnings towards his life expenses. Defendant lives in a multi-million dollar property, as depicted in the video evidence.”

Braun faces five years behind bars for the parole violations. He is slated to appear in court for sentencing on the morning of Oct. 9.

The 45th and 47th president pardoned Braun in January 2021 as part of a final wave of 143 pardons and commutations.

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